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I think one of the biggest issues is.. operating systems like windows give no indication to the ordinary user what internet connections they are making either

I think one of the biggest issues is.. operating systems like windows give no indication to the ordinary user what internet connections they are making either legitimately themselves or from software installed separately and giving users the opportunity to review and grant or deny access. If ALL connections were transparent it would be much easier to see what was not appropriate. Operating systems should say that a connection is being made and for what purpose and the user given the opportunity to grant or deny. This is what i liked about Sophos' original interface sadly gone by the wayside.

sengork 9y ago
Yes, tools like Comodo firewall by default are set to be quiet and prevent end user prompts as much as possible. Regardless the amount of components (whether it be OS, software or website elements) which attempt connecting is overwhelming for even a non-average tech savvy user. For example install https://pi-hole.net/ https://pi-hole.net/ and you'll no doubt realise that most of the DNS queries traversing your home network are not directly made by the end-user.
lathiat 9y ago
The reality is that the average majority consumer would be so annoyed by such things that they would be ineffective. And at best most likely become trained just to hit YES. Even as a technical user, my reaction to windows privilege escalation is pretty much just to smash yes. Like all good things, there is a balance... and there will always be people keen to be more attuned to whats happening.
raesene6 9y ago
You can do it in Windows with something like glasswire, or on OSX with Little snitch or equivalent. I run glasswire, and regularly see legitimate traffic from odd sounding processes. A non-technical user would have zero chance of determining what was legitimate and what wasn't. So whilst it is handy for technical users (who are willing to put in the effort to check all the various processes that make network access) it's not likely to work well for the wider user population

sengork 9y ago

Yes, tools like Comodo firewall by default are set to be quiet and prevent end user prompts as much as possible. Regardless the amount of components (whether it be OS, software or website elements) which attempt connecting is overwhelming for even a non-average tech savvy user. For example install https://pi-hole.net/ https://pi-hole.net/ and you'll no doubt realise that most of the DNS queries traversing your home network are not directly made by the end-user.

lathiat 9y ago

The reality is that the average majority consumer would be so annoyed by such things that they would be ineffective. And at best most likely become trained just to hit YES. Even as a technical user, my reaction to windows privilege escalation is pretty much just to smash yes. Like all good things, there is a balance... and there will always be people keen to be more attuned to whats happening.

raesene6 9y ago

You can do it in Windows with something like glasswire, or on OSX with Little snitch or equivalent. I run glasswire, and regularly see legitimate traffic from odd sounding processes. A non-technical user would have zero chance of determining what was legitimate and what wasn't. So whilst it is handy for technical users (who are willing to put in the effort to check all the various processes that make network access) it's not likely to work well for the wider user population