Norton is easier to hack?

[Jimmy9190]

OK I have searched for 2 days now, here and on other sites but I can not find my answer. I use Norton Internet Security on my desktop and wife's laptop. No problems at all with either one so far. At Thanksgiving I was talking to my daughter's boyfriend about viruses, malware and anti-virus/security programs. He told me Norton is actually one of the easiest programs for the bad guys and hackers to defeat and infiltrate my system. He is a senior in college studying for a degree in Office Information Systems and Internet Security. He is not even out of school yet and already has accepted a job offer with General Electric upon his graduation, starting salary is $75,000.00 per year. He is a very smart kid, and I have no reason to doubt what he says about Norton or anything else computer-related. He said ESET is much harder to hack or bypass, and so is Kapersky. He recommended ESET over Norton.

What do you guys here think of this? If it is true I will change over to ESET. Are there any drawbacks or problems from using ESET instead of what Norton offers?

Thanks for your help.

 

[bubbajoe_2112]

I do tech support for a living and I've used Norton for over 20 years without a single issue.

No antivirus is 100% effective. I see viruses on computers running all the major antiviruses. They all fail at some point, usually because of the operator.

I wouldn't worry the least about using Norton.

The fact that you've searched for 2 days and can't find any documentation that supports his claims should help to prove my point.

If you pin him down, I'm pretty sure he won't be able to provide you any documentation to prove his claim. There was an incident a while back where hackers stole Norton source code, but that has not ever been shown to have cause any issues.

 

[javacontour]

Again, define easiest. I mean one might say it's easier to get into Ft Knox than it is Area 51. Doesn't mean it's easy.

 

[Drew99GT]

Some older versions of Norton weren't very good, but from what I've read, the latest version is top notch. If you go to AVcomparatives.org, you can get results of antimalware testing.

 

[Drew99GT]

Oops, I take that back; Norton has elected not to participate in AVcomparatives. Hmmmmmm

 

[Voltmaster]

You can never hack anti virus program , the worst you can do is tell it to disable itself for a time interval , than atack the computer while its disabled.

No anti virus allowed permenent turn off because of this reason.

Norton is a reasonble company , not best, not worst , good all around. I use them recenetley because AVG failed me REALLY BAD.


you always should use MalwareBytes along side an anti virus for maximum security. I tried giving myself viruses , and either one or both caught them on every attempt.

Norton has a file reputation data base that compared files with files other users used. if its frequentley used it will let it pass, if its not common or suspecious it will ask you what you want to do , and run deep scan.

 

[JC1]

Your daughter's boyfriend is right. I used to fix people's computers. Usually the machines were inoperable after their kids used a file sharing service and their computers were infected with malware. Half of the people were using Norton and it never caught any virus on the machine. Norton would state that it was 100 pct up to date and there were no viruses.

Once I hooked their hard drives to my PC and ran AVG or AVIRA I could easily pick up hundreds of infected files. I don't use Norton.

Regards, JC.

 

[Nickdfresh]

I've read repeatedly that Norton is vastly improved over what it once was, especially in regards to system drag. But going with the "reviews" on the web, I purchased Webroot (which uses sort of a cloud system). It was okay, but I got the creeping suspicion that some of the 'reviews' are largely fake as I now use AVG, which immediately found three viruses on one computer its first scan that Webroot ignored and none rootkits on my second beater computer, which also had Webroot on it.

I find it hard to believe that Norton Internet Security is any easier to hack than anything else though. The one I'd stay away from is McAfee...

 

[LeakySeals]

Agree with Bubba. The real hackers that know won't tell you they do.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
He is a senior in college studying for a degree in Office Information Systems and Internet Security.

So basically he's parroting what his teacher told him, with no real evidence to back it up. Take it with a grain of salt.

 

[95busa]

I used to have norton. I got a virus, and they graciously offered to remove it for the low, low rate of $50. I no longer do business with norton.

 

[crazyoildude]

i use norton but my tech support guy says Microsoft Security Essentials is Better But Who knows....

 

[PandaBear]

The key is to keep any security product up to date. A 2 month old program and database of any reputable AV would be worse than the worst up to date brand program and database.

 

[rjundi]

I did get a virus with the free version of Norton from comcast internet.

I loaded Microsoft's free virus program and it was able to remove the nasty FBI virus.

 

[tommygunn]

Norton is the most popular so it makes it a larger easier target. I like security thru obscurity by using the least popular security stuff. Facebook is where most people get eat up with the cooties.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks for your help. My potential future son in law also spoke very highly of Kaspersky. He said ESET and Kaspersky are the hardest ones to crack into. He spends a lot of his classroom and lab time hacking into web sites and applications, so I do not doubt what he says is true in his own experience. I do feel that if Norton were all that bad then they would have a tough time selling it. I like some of the features of Kaspersky, especially their virtual keyboard and safe money applications. However, I am finding out that Kaspersky does not work and play well with Firefox, and that is the browser I use. I may look further into ESET, maybe try the free trial and see how it goes.

 

[rjundi]

Hacking a website or application is very different than hacking virus software.

 

[bubbajoe_2112]

His experience tells you or anyone nothing, zilch. As rjundi already pointed out, spending time hacking websites and applications doesn't prove anything about antivirus/security software. He's probably just rehashing something he read in a chat room somewhere. I wouldn't change a thing. One thing you should do is open Norton and at the top right click on "Support" and then "Check for Updates" to be sure you have the latest version. Live Update (Norton's auto updater) only patches the current version and keeps the virus signature database updated.

People who claim "Well, I got a virus using X anti-virus, so I'm never going back to them" likely would have still got that virus using any software.

If you want to blow extra money by switching to Kaspersky or Eset, that's up to you. They also offer very decent AV/security software.

If you ever run into problems, I do this for a living. You can PM me to discuss a resolution. Don't want to violate BITOG rules, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Well thanks for the info here. I did check out a few other AV programs, ESET, Kaspersky, even took another look at Avast. Avast is totally new from the last time I saw it. I took Bubba's advice and updated our version of Norton.

We have over 5 months left on our subscription and we have been using it this far and no bad guys have infiltrated our computers, we have no viruses or other problems, so it makes sense to just leave well enough alone. Norton seems to do a fine job and is low on resource usage, and it only cost me $30.00 on Amazon for the one year, three PC disc. Maybe when the subscription is close to expiration we might look at some other AV programs, but when you get right down to it if the bad guys want in my computer there really is not much I can do to stop them, no matter what AV I use.

Thanks again for the info and tips here.

 

[Artem]

I have the newest Norton 360 on 3 of my laptops and i've used Norton for years. No issues either. Each time it runs the system tuneup, it removes cookies and other tracking web based stuff. I like it and would recommend it.