Microsoft mistakenly rated Chromium, Electron, as malware
- Reference: 1662361032
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/09/05/windows_defender_chrome_false_positive/
- Source link:
Numerous social media and forum [1]posts made over the weekend detail how Windows has produced a warning of “Behavior:Win32/Hive.ZY” when users run everyday applications like Google’s Chrome browser or the Spotify music streamer.
Behavior:Win32/Hive.ZY
Nope, false alarm.
Just shows what happens when there is a practical monopoly on the World's operating systems.
How much power is currently being consumed doing "Full Scans"? [2]#Microsoft — Craig Robertson (@CraigAtEpipole) [3]September 4, 2022
Hive is a [4]nasty ransomware-as-a-service outfit, so it’s a good thing that Windows Defender antivirus can detect and warn against the presence of its pernicious products.
But neither Spotify nor Chrome are malware or ransomware (despite their info-harvesting practices).
Users were therefore a tad miffed at Windows making constant suggestions to the contrary.
[5]
Chat in Microsoft’s forums, helped along by a volunteer expert, diagnosed the issue as a false positive produced by Windows Defender, possibly due to recent browser updates somehow confusing matters. .
[6]Microsoft finds critical hole in operating system that for once isn't Windows
[7]Windows Start Menu not starting? You're not alone
[8]Zero-day vuln in Microsoft Office: 'Follina' will work even when macros are disabled
Microsoft’s [9]changelog for antimalware products recorded a flurry of eight updates to Windows Defender dated September 4th, suggesting concerted action to resolve the issue.
Version [10]1.373.1537.0 appears to have done the trick, as forum comments report its application causes the warnings to disappear.
[11]
Microsoft HQ in the USA is enjoying a holiday long weekend, which is probably why the company’s social feeds and representatives are silent on the matter at the time of writing.
This is not the first time Microsoft has identified Chrome as Malware: the Reg archive records a similar incident [12]in 2011 ! Chrome has since gone on to dominate the web browser market. And Microsoft often introduces bug fixes or updates that have unintended consequence of breaking third-party software. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/all/win32hivezy-removal-notification-every-time-i-run/db598180-4b74-4f19-8c1f-117d688caf91?page=1
[2] https://twitter.com/hashtag/Microsoft?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[3] https://twitter.com/CraigAtEpipole/status/1566394093743345665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/06/hive-ransomware-rust-microsoft/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YxXIvAXtlgD7TZvklq9wnwAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/23/microsoft_chromeos_bug/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/25/start_menu_stopped/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/30/follina_microsoft_office_vulnerability/
[9] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/definitions/antimalware-definition-release-notes
[10] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/definitions/antimalware-definition-release-notes?requestVersion=1.373.1537.0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YxXIvAXtlgD7TZvklq9wnwAAANc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2011/09/30/microsoft_nukes_google_chrome/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Mistakenly?
As long as it doesn't flag Windows as malware I won't trust it. :)
Microsoft’s changelog...
...for antimalware products recorded a flurry of eight updates to Windows Defender dated September 4th, suggesting concerted action to resolve the issue.
That doesn't suggest concerted action, that suggests wild flailing.
Re: Microsoft’s changelog...
Yeah if I made 8 releases to fix a production issue in our system, I'd quite rightly be accused of having guessed what the problem was and just trying things until it went away.
and the bootloader problematic?
I fond a quick note that apparently some linux bootloaders' UEFI certificates are no longer valid. I have no real way to install those updates anyway, since I do not really want to boot the windows installation (why would I need it, like at all? It is sort of still lingering around, maybe I need it for some.... dunno... stuff).
Chrome and Electron are Malware? They are not wrong.
No web browser should be using that much memory or CPU resources. Just look at all the Electron apps, from Slack to Teams. Bloated malware the lot of it.
Modern web technology and the standard go to products around it are obscenely inefficient. Yes V8 itself may be among the best in breed, still the whole integrated stack sucks donkey balls.
Anything... yes anything from Google
or whatever they like to call themselves is malware in my book.
As google.com is blocked unless I have to open it while I complete one of those stupid captcha craplets, my network will remain google and social media sites free.
Go ahead and downvote me I honestly don't care. I value my mental health over feeding data to the likes of Google and fartbook.
Not malware??
"neither Spotify nor Chrome are malware or ransomware (despite their info-harvesting practices)."
I would define malware as any software that performs any operation without the instruction, knowledge or consent of the user (particularly, but not exclusively, when such actions are in the interest of the software provider not that of the user). Any software that fudges the "knowledge or consent" parts by burying details of what they actually do in the background under a 20-page T&Cs is pushing the line. Any software that goes beyond even the fudged description in T&Cs has crossed that line.
So declaring neither of those 2 are malware is a tad over-confident
Mistakenly?
For the first time in years MS does something right and you complain about it?