What Does Your Security Suite Know About You?

[Earth Bound Misfit]

http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security-software/323187-what-does-your-security-suite-know-about-you

What Do They Share

....And yet, the system information shared by many of the products might well identify the user. Almost half of the products share the Windows username, which in many cases is the user's full name. Well over half transmit the computer name...

Many security functions must send additional information about your computer usage. A product whose features include a vulnerability checker will necessarily send the version numbers of installed third-party programs, for example. Phishing protection and parental control components may transmit every URL you visit. And any antivirus that includes a cloud-based detection component will have to send file hashes, or in some cases, whole files that are suspect.

Burning Questions

It's conceivable that a security vendor could be required by government agencies to turn over the data they've collected on a particular user. Different jurisdictions have different laws in this area, so knowing where the data is stored can be quite important. Nine of the tested vendors store their data in the European Union, seven in the United States. The EU has stricter privacy laws, so this is significant. There was also one in Russia (Kaspersky) and one in South Korea (AhnLab). Three vendors declined to state where their data is stored.

snip

In truth, your security suite absolutely needs to send quite a bit of information back to its home base in order to do its job. The report offers full details about each vendor's data collection. My biggest takeaway is that you should actually read the EULA and privacy policy for your security suite, and opt out of any data collection that isn't required for security. To make checking EULAs simple, the report concludes with EULA links for the vendors who make those available online.

Full report (DIRECT link to PDF, how/where it opens depends on your settings)

[hobbit709]

1. My computers are named after figures from the French Revolution.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

2. *SNICKER* ....

Registered Owner: Cosmo Kramer
Registered Organization: Vandalay Inds
Computer Name: ImHenryVIII
User Name: TheWidowNextDoor
Computer Description: ItsBluePlastic