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.

What about antivirus? Article by David Huerta (2020) of the Freedom of the Press Foundation Here's a good article Excerpt: "Antivirus software is one of the oldest offerings available from the now billion-dollar cybersecurity industry. But what does antivirus software do to help protect our devices, what does it not do, and do we really need it?"

Antivirus software options

Windows On Windows 10, Security in a Box recommends 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 that offer free versions:

• BitDefender (Android, iOS, Mac, Windows) - Warning: This can be a heavy program for many computers.
• Malwarebytes (Android, iOS, Mac, Windows). Malwarebytes full version is free for 2 week, but you can manually scan your device without time limits.
• Avast antivirus (Android, iOS, Mac, Windows)

Not recommended:

• AVG antivirus (Android, iOS, Mac, Windows)
• Avira antivirus (Android, iOS, Mac, Windows)

From the community: AVG, Avira were found to be running mining operations on consumers PC and they don't offer proper protection.

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.

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Last updated Nov 11, 2022

Source for this content: Security in a Box and discussions with human rights security practitioners.