cthia wrote:Isn't it odd that some of the better antivirus programs hail from abroad? Does it strike anyone else to be a bit precarious for any US citizens, companies or agencies to install foreign antivirus software on their computers?
USA is the place where folks like the NSA and FBI can and DO dictate software and even hardware companies to have a backdoors for them "or else".
There´s also the limitations(and backdoors) enforced on encryption software, which is why almost noone here buys the US ones, especially when the freeware options are so much safer.
cthia wrote:If any government agency relies on Russian antivirus software...is crazy.
Do you have any idea what level of scrutiny those software are under?
And do you actually know anything about them?
Kaspersky AV(to take the most common) is popular because it has a VERY good and proven trackrecord for almost 20 years now. On review sites it´s on every single top ten list i can find, nearly always in the top 5.
Outpost Security Suite, while it doesn´t manage to get into the review top 10 lists in 2016(it has managed a few top 10 lists before), it´s not because it´s unsafe, but because it doesn´t have all the bells and whistles that the more expensive ones have(personally, the stuff it tends to get penalised for not having, are features i have never once used ever).
NANO Antivirus, freeware, slightly big on RAM and a bit slow on complex scans, but reliable even while still in betatest. Also has the no longer so common feature of playing nice with any other security software on the same system.
So, AFAIK, that´s the 3 Russian AV/Firewall softwares that are available today, which of those are you saying is suspect, and what evidence do you have to support such?
None of the companies behind them are connected to Russian government, all 3 have spent years of working up a good reputation, and no hacker has ever found their code to contain anything suspicious...
cthia wrote:And weren't the Russians involved in the Clinton email leaks?
Considering all the bullshit propaganda spewed in the last 10-15 years?
Might be true, but i question it.
Far more likely that it was an internal screwup or manufactured by "political opposition" and then spindoctored to try to take as much advantage of the problem as they could while reducing the fallout.
Ie. standard procedure in US politics today.