Insights For Success

Strategy, Innovation, Leadership and Security

Windows 10

Use Google Chrome's built-in antivirus to scan windows

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

As millions around the world work from home, corporate security teams have ramped up their protection protocols because the threat actors are very active. Many threat actors have also lost their “day jobs” and are relying on their nefarious cyber activities to pay the bills/

From an antivirus perspective, most users will be properly protected by the free Windows Defender included with all versions of Windows 10 . You may have clicked on a questionable link or opened a questionable attachment and you scan your computer using Windows Defender. Sometimes you may want a “second opinion” and the question is which online scanner should you use?

How about none of them. Why not rely on the free antivirus included in Google Chrome. What, you say. Google Chrome? Chrome the browser? Why yes.

Open the Google Chrome browser

In the address bar, enter chrome://settings/cleanup

You click on Find and let it run.

So what is it looking for?

  • Hijacked settings detection - It will detect if a browser extension ha changed your settings without your consent.

  • Chrome Cleanup - Sometimes you download and install the software you need and install unwanted secondary software unwittingly. Often times this is how some of the download sites monetize their service. Chrome will detect many of these unwanted installations and remove them.

  • ESET Antivirus - Google can change the AV engine anytime but right now they have partnered with ESET.



Obviously, this isn’t a complete antivirus and should be relied on as your primary protection mechanism but it is nice to know there is a second opinion waiting for you if you ever need it.

Google's new Pixelbook ad is a hard jab at Windows

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Windows is the most popular operating system in the world and Google will naturally target it, in an attempt to win new customers for its upmarket Pixelbook offering.

Statistic: Global market share held by operating systems for desktop PCs, from January 2013 to January 2019 | Statista
Find more statistics at Statista

January 2019, according to Statistica:

  • Windows market share 75.47%

  • MacOS market share 12.33%

  • Linux market share 1.61%

  • ChromeOS market share 1.17%

Google released a one-minute promo video entitles “If you want a laptop you can count on. You Chromebook. “ .

Truth be told the latest version of Windows 10 has been incredibly stable but this ad will be fun to watch for any Windows user annoyed with constant forced patches, badly designed progress bars and the infamous Blue Screen of Death.

This is an exaggeration of issues users experience but does highlight the main reason why many security professionals have moved to Chromebooks. Patching is almost seamless, the device is normally very stable (except v 72.x has introduced some bugs Google does need to fix) and security is on by default.

Current belief is that on a Chromebook, you have no regular maintenance, no need for an antivirus, no big bang updates that take 30-45 minutes to complete, etc.

Let’s just say Google got even with Microsoft for running the Scrooggled campaign years ago.

KeepSolid VPN Unlimited Review

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

VPN Unlimited is one of the most popular VPN services available and for good reason. It is fast, reliable and competitively priced (deal below).

VPN Unlimited is a USA based provider and offers termination in more than 30 countries (with multiple locations in most countries). VPN Unlimited has good platform support (Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android) and very well written clients.

Above is a screenshot of the protection menu option on their IOS client. When set to High security, they (in addition to VPN protection) automatically add anti-malware, tracking blocking and ad blocking.) All of this extra security is done at the network layer without the need to configure any additional applications or pay additional fees.

Like most VPN service providers, VPN Unlimited specifically mentions that they do not allow illegal torrenting via their service. They recognise that not all torrents are illegal and allow the use of the BitTorrent protocol on these VPN termination points: US-California 1, Canada-Ontario, Romania, Luxembourg, and France servers.

A question I get asked often is "Does VPN Unlimited support OpenVPN on iOS, iPhone or iPad?" The answer is Yes! As shown in the above screenshot. Additionally, they support a protocol they call KeepSolid Wise (similar to the Chameleon protocol on VyprVPN). KeepSolid Wise uses common ports (TCP 443/USP 33434) which help bypass firewall restrictions and packet shaping control for most environments. KeepSolid Wise is available on iOS, Android, MacOS, Linux and Windows clients.

I setup VPN Unlimited on a Windows machine configured for maximum privacy. I then ran a battery of tests to determine how well it protected my privacy.

  • does not leak DNS queries when in VPN mode (go here to test)
  • does hide your actual IP address (go here to test)
  • does not leak IP or DNS information via JAVA or Flash ( Go here to test)
  • protecting P2P traffic. Although I do not condone or encourage the use of P2P tools to steal protected media, there are dozens of legitimate uses for P2P technology. It is important to ensure your VPN product protects you while using P2P and VyprVPN did. You go to this site and the find the Torrent Address Detection. You download their magnet link into your P2P client of choice then activate the test. If it shows your real IP or DNS, you are not protected. You should only see your VPN address here.
  • VPN Unlimited is not subject to WebRTC leaks when in VPN mode (go here to test

VPN Unlimited seems well written and does offer good protection.

Deal

VPN Unlimited is currently running a couple of specials that are worth considering (I bought the unlimited plan):

  • KeepSolid VPN Unlimited lifetime subscription for only $49.99 (for 5 devices)
  • KeepSolid VPN Unlimited 3-year subscription for only $29.99 (for 5 devices)
  • Add their Infinity Plan (aka 5 additional device licenses) for $14.99  but you must own one of the above subscriptions

Conclusion

The best summary I can give you is that VPN Unlimited has a permanent stop on the first page of my iPhone and I use it regularly. 

VPN Unlimited has decent privacy policies but isn't the super secret spy-proof identity protection service. If you want to protect your connection while out and about, VPN Unlimited is cheap, fast and reliable. If you want a super secret identity protecting connection then create your own VPN service on AWS or Azure using one of the pre-made scripts.

Questions

Does KeepSolid Wise work in China?

China severely controls encryption and in some cases slows down encrypted connections making them barely usable. A friend recently travelled to mainland China and reported that VPN Unlimited (with KeepSolid Wise UDP) worked flawlessly.

Does KeepSolid VPN Unlimited support video streaming?

Some of the cheaper VPN providers limit the quality of video from streaming sites because these stress the technical infrastructure of the provider. VPN Unlimited supports streaming video on all termination points but also makes available streaming optimized termination points which are specifically designed to work "better" with sites like Youtube, Dailymotion, Vimeo and more.

Does KeepSolid VPN limit connection speed?

There are dozens of factors that contribute to your overall internet speed but VPN Unlimited does not have tiered pricing based on speed and does not limit connection speed in any way. On most clients, they even show the workload on each termination point which means you can choose one with the least amount of current load (which should lead to better performance).

Does VPN Unlimited support Chromebooks?

VPN Unlimited has a Google Chrome plugin (which works on Chromebooks) and allows you to protect your web browsing only. Obviously as a proxy, it is less secure and missing many of the additional features you expect from VPN Unlimited but it is a great way to browse quickly (securely) and a great option on a Chromebook that doesn't require Jedi level knowledge to implement. 

VyprVPN Review

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

VyprVPN owns and manages its own networks and servers. During my recent VPN testing shoot-out, VyprVPN consistently ranked as one of the fastest VPN providers out there. 

In addition to raw speed, they have an incredible list of supported clients from traditional PCs (Mac, Windows, Linux), to routers (DDWRT, OpenWRT, AsusWRT), smartphones (iPhone, Android, Blackphone, Network Attached Storage (QNAP, Synology), TVs and the Anonabox. 

Contrast this to other popular VPN solutions like UnlimitedVPN, which only supports a small number of custom made clients.

It's VPN clients are well designed with easy to use interfaces and useful features (kill switch, auto-connect, etc). A cool and useful feature is called Chameleon. They explain Chameleon as:

“Our Chameleon technology uses the unmodified OpenVPN 256-bit protocol and scrambles the metadata to prevent DPI, VPN blocking and throttling.”

The first important note is that the Chameleon protocol is not available for IOS due to Apple restrictions on the VPN function. I had the opportunity to test the Chameleon protocol on a Windows laptop from a corporate network with strong VPN restrictions, an ISP that throttles VPN traffic and from a country that severely slows (painfully) down VPN traffic. In all three of these situations, the Chameleon protocol delivered that it promised.

  • It punched through the heavily controlled corporate network
  • When used with the ISP that throttles "normal" VPN traffic, it managed to trick the provider and I was able to use a full speed connection
  • A friend travelling to a highly restrictive country compared VyprVPN to 3 other VPN providers and VyprVPN with the Chameleon protocol was the only one that seemed to operate at normal speed (aka didn't seem to be artificially slowed down)

With more and more internet traffic being encrypted, many companies, organisations and governments have turned to DNS based control tools. DNS is still an unencrypted means to determine web destinations. DNS be used to prevent a user from accessing certain types of sites (religious, political, pornography, etc) and to log web browsing habits. It can also be used to redirect your traffic (quickly without you even realizing it), to inject your session with malicious code and c compromise your device. VyprVPN offers their own self-managed private "no log" DNS solution to protect their customers from DNS snooping and control.

VyprVPN offers a clear and well-written privacy policy. Obviously you aren't anonymous but in summary, they retain " Each time a user connects to VyprVPN, we retain the following data for 30 days: the user's source IP address, the VyprVPN IP address used by the user, connection start and stop time and the total number of bytes used."

And they offer a wide range to termination locations.

VyprVPN and leaktests

I setup VyprVPN on a Windows machine configured for maximum privacy. I then ran a battery of tests to determine how well it protected my privacy.

  • does not leak DNS queries when in VPN mode (go here to test)
  • does hide your actual IP address (go here to test)
  • does not leak IP or DNS information via JAVA or Flash ( Go here to test)
  • protecting P2P traffic. Although I do not condone or encourage the use of P2P tools to steal protected media, there are dozens of legitimate uses for P2P technology. It is important to ensure your VPN product protects you while using P2P and VyprVPN did. You go to this site and the find the Torrent Address Detection. You download their magnet link into your P2P client of choice then activate the test. If it shows your real IP or DNS, you are not protected. You should only see your VPN address here.
  • VyprVPN is not subject to WebRTC leaks when in VPN mode (go here to test

VyprVPN seems well written and does offer good protection.

Beware of the unknown

The only information that we have about the service comes from VyprVPN themselves. Remember that none of the statements about privacy and logging have been reviewed by an independent third party.

They are a US company and therefore they are subject to US data collection laws including the infamous National Security Letter (NSL). 

The above caution statement isn't unique to VyprVPN. I am not aware of any consumer VPN services that have been independently audited but it is still an important factor to consider. 

Some users may want to use a non-US based VPN provider to ensure the company is beyond the legal reach of US laws. The one I am looking into right now is ProtonVPN (which I will be reviewing shortly).

Other users may choose to roll their own VPN solution (lifehacker instructions using the Algo script or you can use anyone of the other scripts that almost automate the creation of a private dedicated VPN instance you control like OpenVPN Road Warrior, streisand, etc.) 

Conclusion

VyprVPN is a fast service with a broad selection of clients and a decent privacy policy. If you are performing illegal activities or are a human rights activist in a questionable region, this probably isn't for you. If you are a "regular" user looking for a decent level or privacy when using the internet, then this is definitely something you should consider. 

For the casual user that only connects to a VPN when using public WIFI, you may want to look elsewhere because VyprVPN isn't cheap. A prepaid annual subscription costs $6,67 a month (or $12.95 paid monthly).A casual user can buy a lifetime subscription to UnlimitedVPN for $49.99 here or a 3-year subscription for $29.99 here.). 

I started testing ProtonVPN recently and will write a review shortly but their offering (plus level) is $8 a month prepaid for 1 year). VyprVPN offers the Chameleon protocol, more servers and their own DNS service (which ProtonVPN does not yet). 

So the price is on the higher end but is in no way the most expensive. For the very casual user, you could be better served by another provider, but for the more security conscious user or traveler, this is definitely a service to evaluate. 

How to protect your PC from infection

GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Think of all the valuable data your PC contains (pictures, files, invoices, contacts, etc). Now imagine losing all of that data Virus' are still a thing but you should be more worried about ransomware, worms and all of the other digital creepy crawlies roaming the net looking to make you their next victim.

Go read my article entitled "How to secure Windows 10".

Backup everything, then back it up again

In 2012, I wrote an article entitled "The best way to protect your data - images, music, documents". The main point is that you should always remember the 3-2-1 rule of backups:

  1. Have 3 copies of all of your important data (1 primary and 2 backups)
  2. Make sure your 2 backups are on separate media technologies (e.g.1 on a hard drive and the other in the cloud or 1 on a hard drive and the other on a tape backup)
  3. 1 of your backups should be offsite in a remote location that would not be impacted by a major disaster that hits your area (e.g. in the cloud).

The advantage of most cloud backups is that they support version control which means if you infect your files with ransomware, you can always go back to  a known good version. My backup strategy involves:

  1. 1 primary version of my data and a local hard drive backup
  2. 1 complete synchronization of my files on a fully encrypted trust no one online storage service
  3. 1 complete backup using a remote backup service (like backblaze or carbonite)

Update everything

WannaCry created an incredibly outcry in the tech world with thousands of companies getting infected in hundreds of countries. The truth is that an update published 2 months prior patched that vulnerability. Updating computers in large companies is complicated but your home PC shouldn't be.

You must must must update your operating system and applications regularly to stay protected.

The latest version of the operating systems from Microsoft, Apple and Ubuntu are all configured to auto-update themselves. In addition to the OS, make sure you periodically check for application updates.

If you use an Apple Macintosh computer, you may even want to use something like MacUpdate Desktop to constantly check if any of your installed apps have updates available.

Leave the built-in firewall on

Some "Security" apps turn off the built in firewall but it is critically important to ensure it is always on. On Windows, you can turn if on/off with these instructions. You can find information about the Apple Mac application firewall here. 

Use an antivirus

The question I get asked the most often is should I buy a third party antivirus for my home computer and my answer is no. Anytime you add a third party tool, you increase the attack vector therefore rely on what Microsoft bundles with Windows 10. You can follow these instructions to change the Windows Defender Antivirus cloud-protection level to 10.

In February I wrote an article entitled "Companies buying bitcoin to prepare for cyber extortion" and in there included this paragraph:

“Companies have started to jump on the Ransomware protection bandwagon. An EDR &”next-generation AV” company called Cybereason offers a free product called RansomFree. They claim it protects against 99% of ransomware by monitoring how applications interact with files on your computer. Did I mention RansomFree is free? I haven’t used their product and thus can’t recommend it but it does seem to be useful and could really help the average consumer ensure they don’t end up getting victimized.”

You can run something like RansomFree on your home PC in addition to the Windows antivirus. 

Upgrade the fleshware

The truth is that even the best most advanced technology can't prevent an infection if the user does something stupid. Often users are the weakest link the the corporate security chain and you are no different. 

Using good security hygiene will go a long way to protecting you. Basic tips:

  • never open an attachment from a user you do not know well or that you are not expecting
  • never click on a link embedded in an email
  • never install applications from untrusted sources (including torrents or anything pirated)
  • Remember that you can also get infected from a website so use Google Chrome with the the Ublock Origin plug-in

What to do if you get infected?

If a user's PC or Mac does get infected, their first thought is to find someone that can clean it. The truth is that once your PC is infected, it can' really be cleaned properly or trusted. At that point, you must do  a clean re-installation from a known clean source and then recover your files from a known good backup.

Some technical support companies will offer cleanup services but don't do it. Once your PC is infected, you don't know what else could be lurking in the background waiting to strike again. The best course of action is to start fresh.

Hopefully you have backups and everything will work out just fine. If you don't have backups and your files are encrypted by ransomware, you can always check out a free online site called No More Ransom Project and see if they offer a free decryptor for your ransomware. There are no guarantees your infection strain has a decryptor but it doesn't hurt to check.