Bleeping Computer describes how a fake Midjourney Facebook page promoted malware to 1.2 million people, and how hackers are using typo-squatting, replacing a single letter in trusted domains, to steal 2FA keys and passwords.
Employee at real estate businesses were prompted to enter their e-mail login information from a phishing-email. The hackers would access the agents email account and determine when a buyer was scheduled to make a payment. They sent an e-mail from the hacked e-mail account instructing the buyer to wire the money to their own bank accounts.
Rilide is a malicious browser extension masquerading as Google Translate while monitoring browsing history, capturing login credentials and bypassing 2FA.
After testing Bitdefender for a few days, I decided to purchase a license. This post is not affiliate, but a friendly recommendation based on personal experience.
TL;DR Desktop and mobile, light and unobtrusive, real-time protection, suspicious site blocking, ransomware protection, hourly threat updates, privacy and parental controls, free VPN, install on five+ devices with one license. Mobile app has anti-theft to locate, scream, remotely lock, and in worst-case wipe the device.
How does this work?
Bitdefender is doing all the talking to "the Internet" and websites you visit. Your browser receives data scanned by Bitdefender.
This enables Bitdefender to intercept and analyze encrypted traffic ("https") before passing it on to the browser, blocking dangerous or malicious links, content, and downloads.
The browsers SSL certificate is issued by Bitdefender when active, and can be verified in your browsers Certificate Viewer
OK, does it work?
Bitdefender, along with Kaspersky and Microsoft, earned a perfect 10-point aggregate score based on results from three anti-virus testing labs in a review by PC Mag.
Kaspersky is Russian tech and may not be used in the US, Bitdefender origins are EU, founded 2001 in Romania.
And yes, it works, when downloading live viruses from research sites it triggers immediately and blocks the page. Here is the eicar.org test virus download...
Bitdefender also protects my privacy by blocking suspicious links and notifying when apps use my microphone or camera. You will also be notified of critical security updates to Windows.
Seriously user friendly
This is the main control panel. Overview and simplicity at the same time.
Discreet but present
Bitdefender does not get in the way. Threat information is silently updated several times per day. Overall light on resources, using 350 MB RAM on Windows 10.
Bitdefender Central
Use the web-based administration platform to view a summary of all blocked threats, manage protected devices, administer parental controls, and start scans remotely. This is also where you locate, lock, or wipe a stolen laptop or phone. Remote lock and wipe needs additional permissions on your phone to work, test the lock in advance.
Parental controls
Five devices are included in one subscription. Install Bitdefender on your kids computers and phones. Not only do you protect their privacy, but also keep track of which apps they are using, monitor screen-time, you can see where they are, and block browsing to categories such as porn or social media.
Free VPN - yes, really free
200MB same-country daily traffic is included on the free VPN plan. Kill-switch built in, if the VPN goes down no traffic leaves your computer. A USD 40 yearly subscription enables multiple countries & unlimited data. Bitdefender licenses its VPN technology and infrastructure from Hotspot Shield.
A few useful utilities included
- One-click optimizer, cleaning up junk files from drives.
- Profiles - optimized settings for gaming, movies, work, and when on battery.
- Anti tracking, kills 3rd party cookies in browsers. Firefox users already have this functionality with the cookie-jar.
With the user in mind
I've found the perfect balance of strong virus and malware protection without slowing down my computer with Bitdefender. The user interface is excellent and even includes a desktop widget when Bitdefender is active. Highly recommended, try the free version at bitdefender.com.
