"Trend Micro, Inc." Apps caught stealing and uploading browser history

[kvic]

Trend Micro's response:

https://blog.trendmicro.com/answers-to-your-questions-on-our-mac-apps-store/

Looks positive to me. Trend Micro stands behind their products and provides a few details that can be verified independently.

The ball goes back to the journalists and "security researchers." The story will be equally interesting if they're eventually caught grabbing media attention for self-fame or behind corporate espionage.

 

[DummyPLUG]

什麼都是假的 只有騙子是真的
Everything is fake, only the liar is real.

 

[ColinTaylor]

什麼都是假的 只有騙子是真的
Everything is fake, only the liar is real.

That's probably "really deep" in Chinese but I think it's meaning gets lost in translation.

 

[Grisu]

Think it means many will tell "their" (for them really) truth, but they are different seen from different perspectives, so which of them is really true for an outstanding? Nobody can tell ...
But for sure you can say the liar is lying. Truth is always hidden.

 

[jontalk]

While this isn't the exact element of this discussion, my AC56U is set up to defaults with the exception of a few functions, DNS among them. I have the app on my Android phone and when it updated the Trend Micro tab was blinking so I remotely enabled the protection but left parental off. Ever since I've noticed some minor issues when streaming on my Roku 3 which I'd never experienced previously. Reading some other discussions on AI Protection, I decided to turn it off due to not a single problem before. Is there a chance it somehow interferes with data movement impacting a movie stream from HBO servers?

 

[follower]

https://9to5mac.com/2018/09/09/addi...aught-stealing-and-uploading-browser-history/

Is this "Trend Micro, Inc." the same company that provides the AIProtection technology in our ASUS routers?

Put a free built in security system in the router and collect customer data for free. How nice is that? The most interesting thing is some people here in snbforum always insist it's fine. (some of posts had been removed including my posts because of personal attack something. I had been banned about 2 weeks. lol). This is the link.
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/netgear-armor-security-service-is-now-available.48128/
Anyway, remember if someone gives you something for free it's not actually free. That person has a purpose. They don't care about you. They only care about the money. Because they are not charities but companies.
Look at this. Someone already linked it.
https://blog.trendmicro.com/answers-to-your-questions-on-our-mac-apps-store/
If it's really fine they don't do this. "Trend Micro is taking customer concerns seriously and has decided to remove this browser history collection capability from the products at issue.". What if it wasn't exposed? Think about it. I never trust this kind of company.

 

[DummyPLUG]

Put a free built in security system in the router and collect customer data for free. How nice is that? The most interesting thing is some people here in snbforum always insist it's fine. (some of posts had been removed including my posts because of personal attack something. I had been banned about 2 weeks. lol). This is the link.
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/netgear-armor-security-service-is-now-available.48128/
Anyway, remember if someone gives you something for free it's not actually free. That person has a purpose. They don't care about you. They only care about the money. Because they are not charities but companies.
Look at this. Someone already linked it.
https://blog.trendmicro.com/answers-to-your-questions-on-our-mac-apps-store/
If it's really fine they don't do this. "Trend Micro is taking customer concerns seriously and has decided to remove this browser history collection capability from the products at issue.". What if it wasn't exposed? Think about it. I never trust this kind of company.

And if they really care about customer they will never do that in day 1. Sure there are many software out there collecting user data but many of them allow a complete opt-out without disable most of the software function. It is bad for ASUS/Trendmicro insist it is opt-in or nothing, and I am sure most of the AIprotection function never require call back to server except update the database.

I had report our AC68u phone home regularly last year (months before they put in that privacy notification) and never hear any explaination from ASUS, and those phone home is not for firmware update check. Due to this we had already bad list Asus when deploy system for our customer.

 

[Zonkd]

I fail to see how something called "Dr. Battery" or "Duplicate Finder" needs to investigate whether a malware site has been visited. Personally, I think that explanation is half-BS.

That sounds like a very reasonable conclusion to me.

 

[Zonkd]

And if they really care about customer they will never do that in day 1. Sure there are many software out there collecting user data but many of them allow a complete opt-out without disable most of the software function. It is bad for ASUS/Trendmicro insist it is opt-in or nothing, and I am sure most of the AIprotection function never require call back to server except update the database.

I had report our AC68u phone home regularly last year (months before they put in that privacy notification) and never hear any explaination from ASUS, and those phone home is not for firmware update check.

Is this phoning-home still occurring? Reading other threads I notice that there was previously a thread discussing preventing any TM data collection by filtering/blocking. Totally understandable that SNB would have to remove it because it's probably against the Trend Micro EULA. Very interesting though that this conversation may have been continued another forum.

 

[XIII]

Put a free built in security system in the router and collect customer data for free. How nice is that?

I thought ASUS had to pay Trend Micro for this (and we as customers pay ASUS via the higher retail price)?

 

[Grisu]

I thought ASUS had to pay Trend Micro for this (and we as customers pay ASUS via the higher retail price)?

would have been the old fashioned way around 20 years ago!
No, they put into the router whatever they get for free, sounds good and could be sold as plus.

 

[Zonkd]

Looks positive to me...

Which bit?

From TrendMicro Blog: The potential collection and use of browser history data was explicitly disclosed in the applicable EULAs and data collection disclosures accepted by users for each product at installation

Have you ever used the Mac App Store??? It's awful for this. See screenshot example. Tiny font, barely visible color, hard to identify it is a hyperlink, doesn't open in the Mac App Store, and they're usually too generic and difficult to understand what data the app is collecting. All we can really do is read the app description and make assumptions being downloading, then when we start using it make a judgement when it requests a permission. Surely in this case no user would reasonably expect many of those Trend Micro apps to take their browser history.

 

[RMerlin]

would have been the old fashioned way around 20 years ago!
No, they put into the router whatever they get for free, sounds good and could be sold as plus.

Asus has to pay for this, it's not free. I have internal info supporting that.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Regarding the collection of your data by others, here's my ISP's Customer Privacy Policy. They monitor everything I do. So, if you want to beat up on somebody over violation of your rights/privacy, you should beat up on your elected representatives, particularly the ones who have been repealing consumer protections in banking, product safety, environment protection, and Internet neutrality. Individual corporations are not the problem, imo... they/we all must be regulated to protect and ensure the common good.

OE

 

[kvic]

Which bit?

Trend Micro admitted they collected browser histories from the past 24 hours, and also admitted it's mentioned in the EULA. So people get a baseline to work on this case.

At the same time, people should question the "security researchers" if their test VM is freshly created or been running for a few months. AND all the browser history from the past few months are sent?

Have you ever used the Mac App Store???

I think you quoted from Trend Micro's statement. If so pls clearly state it, otherwise, it appears like I said that. That's not the case and not good..

Look..you might be very concerned about privacy breach, I could understand that. I would encourage you to install my pixelserv-tls, it's a tool of a few functionalities. One is to show you what privacy data many websites/trackers/ad network are attempting to upload. You'll get lots of material/evidence to talk about..

That doesn't mean Trend Micro can violate ppl's privacy but personally I will wait to see both sides building up the case..

 

[somms]

Regarding the collection of your data by others, here's my ISP's Customer Privacy Policy. They monitor everything I do. So, if you want to beat up on somebody over violation of your rights/privacy, you should beat up on your elected representatives, particularly the ones who have been repealing consumer protections in banking, product safety, environment protection, and Internet neutrality. Individual corporations are not the problem, imo... they/we all must be regulated to protect and ensure the common good.

OE

Utah's Xmission Keeps Customer Data Private

Keep in mind that not ALL ISPs are evil.

Primary reason I choose XMission as my provider from the over half-dozen ISPs that currently offer 1Gbps service over Utopia FTTH is due to Pete Ashdown's record on protecting their customer's privacy. It is troubling that the incumbent ISPs can and do sell their customer's info in a heartbeat just to make a buck...

 

[OzarkEdge]

Utah's Xmission Keeps Customer Data Private

Keep in mind that not ALL ISPs are evil.

Primary reason I choose XMission as my provider from the over half-dozen ISPs that currently offer 1Gbps service over Utopia FTTH is due to Pete Ashdown's record on protecting their customer's privacy. It is troubling that the incumbent ISPs can and do sell their customer's info in a heartbeat just to make a buck...

As I wrote, individual corporations are not the problem. Nor are they the solution. You can boast of your many fiber ISP options and the one company you choose to trust for now, but that is little solace in the face of widespread offense across many sectors, not just ISPs.

I assume you won't be moving anytime soon.

OE

 

[Zonkd]

I think you quoted from Trend Micro's statement. If so pls clearly state it, otherwise, it appears like I said that. That's not the case and not good..

My accident I have edited now to include TM blog as source for the quote.