Code: Select all
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjdkq7/avast-antivirus-sells-user-browsing-data-investigation
Code: Select all
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjdkq7/avast-antivirus-sells-user-browsing-data-investigation
Note: Jumpshot is a subsidiary of Avast.In a tweet sent last month intended to entice new clients, Jumpshot noted that it collects "Every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site" [emphasis Jumpshot's.]
Jumpshot's data could show how someone with Avast antivirus installed on their computer searched for a product on Google, clicked on a link that went to Amazon, and then maybe added an item to their cart on a different website, before finally buying a product, the source who provided the documents explained.
Exactly. Leaders in the security sector are spying on users and and selling their information. Does that even make sense?webfork wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:02 pm Unfortunately, this doesn't inspire confidence at any level, meaning people are less likely to trust ANY security tools or services. Fewer people using security software to avoid privacy breaches like this is going to mean more malware goes further. I don't see any positives here.
It's already gone pretty far according to the info in the vice.com article. It seems like IBM, Microsoft, Pepsi, Southwest Airlines, and the many other companies qualify as Fortune 500 companies if I'm not mistaken.
It's almost like they are bragging about it. Well, I guess they are - at least to their clients. I think it's probably a good idea for everyone to read the article in full for themselves.Jumpshot says it has data from 100 million devices.
The data obtained by Motherboard and PCMag includes Google searches, lookups of locations and GPS coordinates on Google Maps, people visiting companies' LinkedIn pages, particular YouTube videos, and people visiting porn websites. It is possible to determine from the collected data what date and time the anonymized user visited YouPorn and PornHub, and in some cases what search term they entered into the porn site and which specific video they watched.
Although the data does not include personal information such as users' names, it still contains a wealth of specific browsing data, and experts say it could be possible to deanonymize certain users.
"It's very granular, and it's great data for these companies, because it's down to the device level with a timestamp," the source said, referring to the specificity and sensitivity of the data being sold.
Opera, and Google removed Avast's and subsidiary AVG's extensions from their respective browser extension stores. Avast had previously explained this data collection and sharing in a blog and forum post in 2015.
However, the data collection is ongoing, the source and documents indicate. Instead of harvesting information through software attached to the browser, Avast is doing it through the anti-virus software itself.
See https://palant.de/2019/10/28/avast-onli ... ng-on-you/Special wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:59 pm Funny I'm not seeing any cries to uninstall Mozilla's Firefox since they can sell your browsing data to Cliqz “because it’s anonymized” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliqz#Int ... th_Firefox), most all big tech companies will claim that every collection and processing moral is right on our data as long as it’s anonymized, but when their not-friend Avast does it too suddenly they remember that it’s still bad to do that, and that in particular data can be de-anonymized?
I'd be very surprised if one of the most well known and popular anti-virus tools in the world wasn't able to find other means of feeding developers that didn't include selling personal data, much less very specific, personal data. Anyway, from what I'm reading, Windows Defender has improved immensely over the last few years, though Microsoft's reputation for privacy is not what it once was. Microsoft had an iffy record on security, but a long-standing approach to privacy for many years, which is shrinking on the acquisition of LinkedIn and similar tools. Now it seems to have traded places, where security is good and privacy is fading.freakazoid wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2020 2:26 pm Does that help restore your trust in Avast? Probably not. Companies have to make money somehow. Probably should just stick to Windows Defender, even though they're probably doing the same thing. Or turn off antivirus altogether and go with an anti-executable method like Voodooshield.
The effort in the provided link seems very small scale. I know your point is about the industry at large, but I definitely don't want to paint Firefox with the same brush as Avast, especially versus Chrome.Special wrote: ↑Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:59 pm Funny I'm not seeing any cries to uninstall Mozilla's Firefox since they can sell your browsing data to Cliqz “because it’s anonymized” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliqz#Int ... th_Firefox)
Saw that, too, totally agree -- you just beat me to the post, webfork...webfork wrote: ↑ Revisiting this whole situation: that time both AVG and Avast were just spyware:
www.safetydetectives.com/blog/avast-scandal-why-we-stopped-recommending-avast-avg/
Well said.freakazoid wrote: ↑Sun Jul 16, 2023 11:29 am Thank Wladimir Palant ... most tech blogs just review the end product and AV detection rates and there is not enough analysis on what AVs and other cybersecurity programs are actually doing behind the scenes.