November 4, 2009 | Commentary | The importance of being able to trust your antivirus vendor cannot be underscored enough. Antivirus software has full rights to your system, full access to your data, and full access to the Internet. For many users, antivirus software has more rights and abilities on their computer than they do themselves. Trust is key.
Recently, China-based IObit software was called out by Malwarebytes for allegedly stealing signature definitions from the Malwarebytes database. After suspicions were initially raised, Malwarebytes laid several traps. One of those was creating a signature for a completely fake, made-up detection named "Rogue.AVCleanSweepPro". Sure enough, within a couple of weeks, IObit had the exact signature string for this made-up detection in their own database.
It's interesting that this not only provided proof that IObit was stealing signatures from other vendors, but is also indicates that IObit may not actually be performing any malware analysis of their own - shortchanging any customers who happened to believe there was any real security expertise behind the product.
In addition to strong claims of data theft, IObit is also accused of deceptively installing the Conduit toolbar. According to a statement from Conduit, "We are now looking into this matter and if the publisher in question is in violation of any of our terms, we will disallow their access to our platform and disable the browser add-on that they created."
IObit also stands accused of fraudulent advertising claims. As an example, their website (which has since been changed) claimed that Forbes had endorsed IObit Security 360, saying it "cleaned up infected systems better than any product we've tested."
The first indication this is false is that Forbes doesn't do antivirus testing. The real truth is that IObit sent a press release out on PRNewswire, s press release service that automatically feeds into various publications, including Forbes. IObit then rephrased a section of that press release, posted it on their website and claimed it was a Forbes review (which again, Forbes does not do).
IObit repeated this ruse with Bizjournals, Reuters, and several other publishing magnates. As of November 4, 2009, you could still see this in Bing's cache of the IObit website.
For a product where trust means everything, IObit stands accused of data theft, deceptive installation of a marketing toolbar, and fraudulent advertising. Integrity and reputation are key to establishing trust and it appears that IObit has squandered both for the sake of illicit gains at the expense of unsuspecting users.
