Secure your devices

Secure your devices

This is a collection of resources for human rights defenders to better understand when, why and how to secure devices.

Use antivirus or anti-malware

Advice

1. Know how to check if your antivirus or anti-malware app is working and updating itself.

2. Perform periodic manual scans.

3. Choose and run only one anti-malware app; if you run more than one on a device, they may interfere with each other.

Antivirus software options

Windows On Windows we recommend to turn on Windows's own anti-malware protection Windows Defender

Linux On Linux you can manually scan your device for malware with ClamAV. But be aware it is only a scanner, and will not monitor your system to protect you from infection. You can use it to determine whether or not a file or directory contains known malware — and it can be run from a USB memory stick in case you do not have permission to install software on the suspect computer. You may also consider using paid antivirus (e.g. ESET NOD32)

Software available on multiple operating systems:

• AVG antivirus (Android, iOS, Mac, Windows)
• Avira antivirus (Android, iOS, Mac, Windows)
• Malwarebytes (Android, iOS, Mac, Windows). Malwarebytes full version is free for 2 week, but you can manually scan your device without time limits.

Note that all antivirus and anti-malware apps collect information on how the protected devices are being used. Some of this information may be shared with companies which own them. There have been cases where this information was sold to third parties.

(source: [Security in a Box]https://securityinabox.org/en/phones-and-computers/malware/#use-antivirus-or-anti-malware)