It recently transpired that Windows Defender had a critical vulnerability which allowed hackers to turn its scanner function into a malware installer.Hackers could create files booby-trapped with malicious code, and this code is executed inadvertently and automatically by the scanner while inspecting messages, downloads and other files.
Although the fault has now been fixed, it raises questions around the reliability of in-built OS security systems, something that Microsoft has been touting recently. Ondrej Vlcek, Chief Technology Officer, GM and EVP Consumer Business at Avast commented below.
Ondrej Vlcek, Chief Technology Officer, GM and EVP Consumer Business at Avast:
“Although the issue has now been addressed by Microsoft, the serious vulnerability revealed in Windows’s built-in security service, Windows Defender, highlights the dangers of a monocultural approach to digital security. This year we’ve already seen rapid acceleration in the sophistication of the technology, strategies, and methods cyber criminals employ to get around security protection and onto people’s devices. Relying on a single line of defence simply won’t cut it.
“Conversely, given the everyday reliance people have on their connected devices, we need real security diversity that allows them to exercise the right to safety when they go online. Unless we continue to develop and encourage adoption of a broad, multi-layered approach, where security means much more than antivirus – and a single antivirus at that – we could end up doing the hackers’ work for them.”
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