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Antivirus has always been the wrong solution to this problem. Mobile computing showed us the way: sandboxed applications with the operating system asking the us
by nexuist 6y ago
Antivirus has always been the wrong solution to this problem. Mobile computing showed us the way: sandboxed applications with the operating system asking the user for consent before exposing any new APIs to the application.
The fact that any arbitrary program executed on Windows can still wipe out your entire user folder without any sort of warning or request for permission is astounding to me. There's probably a million different (unsecured) ways to bork the install too, so that your computer won't boot the next time it restarts. And let's not forget our best friend, ransomware, whose singular reason for existing is the lack of filesystem controls.
- jorangreef 6y agoSandboxes can still be dirtied, and would not have stopped the recent Apple Mail zero-day. For that you need static analysis on file formats, but this is a recent technique and not something that scanners have historically been good at (e.g. Moxie's recent reverse file format strike on Cellebrite). Nevertheless, it comes down to defense-in-depth. There's no silver bullet.
- tim333 6y agoI'm not sure anything is perfect but in practice I get zero problems on the iPhone and used to have quite a few with antivirus on a Windows pc.