Question Question for Bitdefender Anti-Virus users: concern with Anti Theft feature

[liberty610]

Hi everyone.

I just bought a 2 year subscription to Bitdefender anti-virus. I had a scare with a re-occurring trojan that turned out to be nothing major, but I figured it was time to beef up the security to something other then the stock Windows defender.

I now have a concern with one of the features. To get protection with Bitdefender, you need to log into an online account and assign your devices to the account. From within that online account, all of your 'protected' devices are listed inside that hub, and there is a feature in there called "Anti Theft". I don't seen ANYWHERE that it can be turned off. The reason this is a concern to me is, the anti theft feature allows you to remotely wipe any one of the devices from inside your Bitdefener central hub. This means, if Bitdefender themselves gets breached some how, hackers can remotely wipe out any of your devices that is listed within the hub. Or anyone with your Bitdefender password can do it. Yes, I am aware not sure passwords, and I don't share passwords with anyone, but this is one of those hypothetical situations.

Does anyone know if there is a way to turn off this feature at all? I have combed over both the BitDefender central hub and their message forums. There are other people with these concerns as well, and do far I have seen nothing in response from Bitdefender other than "We will pass this feature request along to our development team'.

 

[Aeacus]

As far as i can tell, the "Secure erase" can't be disabled. This is one of many features offered by encryption software. Though, not all encryption software offer this feature, which can be exploited under right circumstances.

Here, i suggest dismissing BitDefender as a whole and use dedicated encryption software instead, one that is better suited for your needs. As of which to pick, here's further reading,
link: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-encryption-software

Overall, software that does many different things at once (anti-malware, encryption etc) isn't great at any of them. (Ever head of: "Jack of all trades but master of none."?) Better to use dedicated software for each task.

E.g for anti-malware, i'm using MalwareBytes Premium, since it excels in the 1 thing it is supposed to do. MalwareBytes also offers free version, with 14 days trial of their Premium version, so you can try it out and test if it's something you'd like to have,
link: https://www.malwarebytes.com/premium

My use of MalwareBytes Premium is due to their browser guard (part of the Premium suite), that protects my PC from malicious scripts/sites out there. Better to stop the malware well before it has chance to infect the PC, rather than dealing with it after infection.
And if i'd be even more paranoid and need the encryption of my files as well, then i'd pick one of the encryption software from the link i gave above.

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"if Bitdefender themselves gets breached some how, hackers can remotely wipe out any of your devices that is listed within the hub. "

That is why you have backups safely stored somewhere else.

And can still execute a wipe on your own device if it stolen and it becomes necessary to execute a remote wipe.

 

[liberty610]

I was using Maleware bytes free alongside Windows Defender. The only reason why i got Bitdefender was because there was an odd issue with a re-occurring Trojan that was not a real threat (long story).

I have offline backups of all my important stuff. That isn't an issue. The bigger issue is, I run a project studio with a lotn of VST plugins that have limited licenses attached to them. If I can't un-register them from a system before it gets wiped, it's a HUGE headache to get the companies to reset the keys and what not.

I decided to ditch Bitdefender and go back to Malware bytes and Windows defender for the time being. That ani-theft feature is just too much power if it falls into the wrong hands.

 

[USAFRet]

I have offline backups of all my important stuff. That isn't an issue. The bigger issue is, I run a project studio with a lotn of VST plugins that have limited licenses attached to them. If I can't un-register them from a system before it gets wiped, it's a HUGE headache to get the companies to reset the keys and what not.

Full drive backups and a following series of Incrementals or Differentials would alleviate all that licensing issue, if restoring in the same system.