[dba-Tech] Win 10 virus protection

[Jim Lawrence]

Gustav:

I realize that Microsoft is working hard to protect its users against malware and other trojans. The one main problem I have is that unlike, Apple and even Google, MS has not made a promise to protect your data. It of course, may be little more than a symbolic gesture but MS has not made any and clearly states user data may be used by a third-party. Their over-all user agreement is supposed to make Microsoft free from any potential legal challenges but there is also a potential dark-side to it.

Of course Microsoft feels that they gave us a free OS and much of the software on it so our side of the bargain is to allow them access to our data. They are a company, after all, that is solely driven by large profits and anything we receive "Free" must eventually be paid for. Knowing this, any altruism is balanced with the knowledge that the users and data is but a product for sale. The last Windows 10 install, along with help from Google, took me close to an hour to close all the data holes I could find.

One of the interesting things about Windows 10 was discovered in my Router logs. It appears that many requests from some package on the Windows desktop and within the system, invoke replies on other than the calling addresses. My router firewall protection is (SPI) Stateful packet inspection. IOWS the firewall blocks all packets not returned/replied to the active caller connection. I am not sure why a number of addresses are necessary for responding to a particular external request? There are a few programs that require a few ports opened when active but within their documentation there is always a section on the application rules, which can then be applied to the Router. Maybe I am extra suspicious of Microsoft’s full intentions but OTOH neither have they been fully forth-coming.  

Thanks for the names of the two application you are using. Though I myself may not be using them some of my fellow tech guys will find the products useful.

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gustav Brock" <gustav at cactus.dk>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 12:20:33 AM
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Win 10 virus protection

Hi Jim and Susan

I think you shouldn't forget that Microsoft is a major player in fighting malware and botnets, and we should appreciate every step fighting the bad guys. And if we can help this by a tiny offer, that's our small contribution in this battle. That's for a free service; if it should turn out as a paid service, you can just refuse the offer.

The large enterprises have established monitoring, so it won't help them, but the millions of small operations have not and wouldn't know how or don't have the funding to establish it.

That said, pre-disaster is always to prefer. We do that, and I have mentioned it several times, using a service hosted by CSIS:

     https://www.csis.dk/en/business/securedns/

It's a very cheap service. On desktops we use only the free Windows Defender. We have never had any infection on our dozen or so workstations.

It is available for stand-alone machines as well - as a client that uses the same DNS blockings as Secure DNS:

    https://heimdalsecurity.com/en/

However, for cleaning up clients' infected machines, Malwarebytes is a trusted helper.

/gustav


-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: dba-Tech [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Jim Lawrence
Sendt: 15. marts 2016 04:16
Til: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Emne: Re: [dba-Tech] Win 10 virus protection

Hi Peter:

Have you heard about Microsoft's latest adventure; post-breach detection to Windows 10. 

http://bit.ly/1Lnwa3v and http://bit.ly/1QTWjHq

IMHO, this a just a post disaster product that will come as a per machine service charge. If there is to be a security product let it be a pre-disaster protection system. 

A few of observations from these articles are as follows: How much data has MS been vacuuming off Windows 10 PCs to acquire this knowledge in the first place and just how much more will be expropriated? How much bandwidth will it take run these continuous post disaster analysis routines on a big network? What happens to the anonymous data that has and will be acquired from all these businesses? From my observation Windows 10 is well on its way to make MS user's PCs into little more than data mines for hyper-connected terminals. The irony is that all this is that Microsoft is using a massive Linux internet infra-structure to go for absolute control.

Jim 

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