Antivirus collect data, should I worry?

Antivirus they steal? Avast collects the browsing history of its users and sells the data to third parties, according to joint research of PCMag and Vice. This is the latest example of a free antivirus software that collects data. Of course this free antivirus should also save some money.

Χρησιμοποιείτε το antivirus της Avast; Από προεπιλογή, η Avast συλλέγει τη δραστηριότητα περιήγησης ιστού και την προσφέρει στους εμπόρους μέσω μιας θυγατρικής με την επωνυμία Jumpshot. Οι εταιρείες που αγοράζουν τα δεδομένα που συλλέγει η εφαρμογή Avast μπορούν να δουν τα πλήρη στοιχεία “clickstream” για να εντοπίσουν τι κάνουν οι της Avast .

Here's how Michael Kan presents it at PCMag:

The data collected is so detailed that customers can see the individual clicks that users make during their browsing periods, including up to a millisecond. And while the data collected is never associated with an individual's name, email, or IP address, each user history is assigned an identifier called a device ID.

Avast, on the other hand, says that this data is "anonymized," but PCMag and Motherboard report that they were able to link it to people. For example, if you know who of Amazon bought a specific product at a specific second on a specific date, you can identify the “anonymous” person and then check more of their browsing history.

If you have Avast installed with default settings, your browsing history is sold to advertisers through Jumpshot. This data is not collected through of the Avast browser, but through the main Avast antivirus application.

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When you install Avast, you will see a question asking if you want to share your data. Most people who click on "Agree" probably did not realize that they agreed with the behavior described above.

If you have Avast installed, open the application and follow the path in the menu Settings - General - Privacy. From there you can control what data is collected and shared by the application, and of course you can turn off data sharing options.

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In October 2019, Adblock Plus extension creator Wladimir Palant described how many of Avast's browser collect and transmit data from your browsing history. The AVG app extension did the same thing – and that shouldn't come as a surprise since Avast bought AVG a few years ago.

Google and Mozilla immediately removed the browser extensions from the Chrome Web Store and Mozilla Addons, respectively, until Avast made the necessary changes. Add-ons are still available and Avast seems to be more "transparent" in its privacy policy.

(Google is trying to protect its users from third party data collection, the joke of the day).

Το δωρεάν λογισμικό προστασίας από ιούς πρέπει να έχει κάποιο κέρδος, επομένως δεν θα πρέπει να αποτελεί έκπληξη ότι εταιρείες σαν την Avast έχουν στραφεί στη συλλογή και τη εσόδων από τα δεδομένα των πελατών τους.

Free antivirus software isn't “free” anymore. Many antivirus companies change the default search engines, changing the browser's homepage and embedding additional software "offers" into their installers. Today, many other antivirus applications may be tracking you and possibly selling this data.

If you don't like these use Windows antivirus, but still don't be sure that no data is being leaked from it you.

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Written by giorgos

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