Traffic light and Adtracker, Privacy warning and Data

TheRookieGB · 2025-02-28T00:11:10+00:00

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HI all

New to Bitdefender on Mac OS and iOS.

Have a query please.

Before BD I have sophos home and it was simple. A top of the screen popup that ran an antivirus on a schedule or you ran it manually. Macs are safer than Windows 10/11 PC's and this software was fine.

SO I upgraded I thought to BD and it looks great and has lots of options.

2 of them are Traffic Lights and Adtracker. These however in Safari ask for high level permissions which end up showing that TL and ADT can 'change the website and view credit card details' or words to that affect.

Just want information do BD look at? I would imagine its just the URL, but do you feel safe running these extensions knowing that any credit card info you use is being looked at by BD?

Can we have some clarification on this please. At present I only have the antivirus turned on.

Many thanks

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Accepted answers

Alexandru_BD

Hello @TheRookieGB,

The access between the urls on the page and its content is not differentiated, the permission Bitdefender is requesting is to have access to all domains, so that it can scan their urls. But that's just the message that Safari displays, if Bitdefender requests this kind of permission. Obviously, the software doesn't actually "look" at payment details or any other information which is not required in its activity.

Bitdefender offers data security solutions and services. Their goal is to ensure information and network security by providing quality solutions and services in these areas while also respecting privacy and personal data of customers, Internet users and business partners. For this purpose, Bitdefender collects only that personal data absolutely necessary for the specified purposes, on a best efforts basis.

On this occasion I add the fact that Bitdefender's privacy policy complies with the applicable data protection legislation, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR – Regulation 2016/679), as well as other data protection requirements in any of the jurisdictions where Bitdefender operates. Furthermore, all Bitdefender information security policies are ISO 27001 and SOC2 Type2 certified.

I hope the information brings peace of mind.

Regards,

Alex

All comments

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/103363/traffic-light-and-adtracker-privacy-warning-and-data

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Regards

Alexandru_BD

Hello @TheRookieGB,

I hope the information brings peace of mind.

Regards,

Alex

TheRookieGB

many thanks for the detailed reply.

It has in some ways settled my mind as to what BD is doing with such a high level access.

Can I also ask. Does this effect the built in virus protection and sandbox of a Unix based Mac OS system having BD run these services also. In other words does BD add extra protection ontop of MacOs itself or does it take over from some of the great built in features the OS already offers?

Thanks

Alexandru_BD

Hi @TheRookieGB,

To answer this question, I think we need to analyze how the threat landscape looks like for macOS and the role Antivirus for Mac plays in this context.

Naturally, macOS includes built-in antivirus technology for the signature-based detection and removal of malware, and there's a strong belief among its users that it doesn't require any additional protection. For years, Mac users were told they were safe, and I think this statement somehow created this misconception that we face today, that only Windows computers need antivirus protection.
But how exactly do people reach this conclusion? And why exactly are Macs considered immune to threats?
Well, for the most part, it's like you said, the operating system is based on the UNIX architecture. This system is known to be more secure than others and especially less attacked by hackers because it’s not as popular as Windows. It’s going to cost the average hacker more to build Mac malware than Windows-based malware.

In some way, I believe Antivirus for Mac is "challenging" users to rethink their security, which until recently had a bulletproof status. In any case, mac-designed malware is definitely not something new..

Look, a safer operating system does not mean that it cannot get viruses. Vulnerabilities in third-party software essential for web browsing (browsers, Java, Flash, Adobe) can be exploited by malicious code. Adware and ransomware are currently the most frequent infections that target Macs, and will remain one of the most important trends. On the other hand, phishing attacks cannot be prevented by the operating system. For its part, Apple was criticized for not reacting quickly enough to security vulnerabilities. For example, the Rootpipe vulnerability discovered in October 2014 was patched only 7 months later, in April 2015. But that happened over a decade ago.

Back to your initial question now, I think Antivirus for Mac excels as complementary security if you will, or an additional layer of protection on top of the excellent defenses already found in the macOS. Because they are strong, there's no doubt about that. If you go through the antivirus feature set (and if you are already familiar with its Windows counterpart), you'll notice that the security technologies available on Windows are not replicated for macOS (but the software's focus is to protect the Mac in real time against infections, and Bitdefender obtained excellent results in time on the AV-Test independent tests conducted in this area).
Not replicating the same technologies available for Windows happens for a reason: macOS does not require the same amount of extensive anti-malware modules as access is much more restricted to any third party (not only including possible malicious apps/files, but the same restrictions apply to third party software manufactures such as Bitdefender. So, even if as a cybersecurity vendor, you could actually do more to boost security in some areas, implementation is not possible as Apple holds primary functions in that area for themselves.

Regards,

Alex

Alexandru_BD

@TheRookieGB and for even more peace of mind concerning data and privacy, you can check Bitdefender's certifications here:

https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/business/certifications