Issues Blocking Applications and Websites

Phoebius · 2022-01-12T08:44:34+00:00

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I have been trying to block several sites such as tiktok, youtube, discord, via the box settings and the Bitdefender central app. No matter what I do either by putting in the website directly, or blocking the apps, my kids keep getting around it. I see that they will install the Apps from the Microsoft store and it allows them to still browse the content and it doesnt seem like BitDefender blocks it. I also found that my son is using the browser Opera GX and there are app addons that he can Pin to the browsers manager an still go to the websites even though I have it all locked down. Also doing the Category restrictions dont work on other browsers outside the Main ones (Chrome/Edge/FireFox/Safari) Anyone one have any solutions to this or running into the same thing?

I am about to get my old Nighthawk router and manually block the traffic to those sites however I would like to have Bitdefender Box do it as it is a router too.

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Comments

Tudor Paraschiv

Hi,

We are constantly improving our products and features and the parental control features were always one of our priorities.
From what we understood from your message, most probably the sites or apps are being accessed via VPN or custom DNS/browser extensions, in which case the traffic is encrypted and the BOX is not able to apply the restrictions.

We believe that more granular control can be achieved by close monitoring the apps, user rights, and profiles on the children's devices.

Please let us know if we can provide further details.

Have a great day!

Phoebius

Hi,

Thank you for posting this and I have tried to more granularly monitor the profile and restrict the apps that are being used. However my son has been becoming quite inventive on how to get around the securities of Bitdefender. I dont know if it is the way the software is installed but some how he is able to get into the security properties of the Bit defender program Directory ( C:\Program Files\Bitdefender & C:\Program Files\Bitdefender Agent ) and over ride the Owner of this folder path. by doing the following:

1) Go to folder path C:\Program Files\

2) Right click on Bitdefender

3) Select Properties

4) In the Properties window go to the Security Tab

5) at the bottom click on "Advanced"

6) At the top there is Owner Line and a Change Link.

7) Even though this Change link requires Admin rights he is still able to click this and make changes to the folder.

I thought this was not possible as I am in IT so I can him do the same steps on the C:\windows\sysem32 folder and it tossed up the "Access Denied" prompt. So I thought ok well looks like this is a flaw so I had him continue taking owner ship of the folder (Note: His account is just a User account with the defacto rights for the set of GPOs). Once he had owner ship of the folder and the other one he rebooted the system. He then installed an app called Blue Stacks, link is here: https://www.bluestacks.com , and ported those apps into a virtual environment, essentially moving them to a VM, He would then Run a Bitdefender Update at it affectively locked up the application causing it to scan for program files that should be in a location but cant find it, but since there is no "Log" of it moving somewhere in the system itself to re-path the scanners and update agent it just said Update 100%. He now had full control to do what he wanted and neutralized Bitdefender Parental controls from monitoring anything. So now he can go to any site he wishes or play what ever game and the Parental locks wont stop him. Then when he is done he just moves the folders back to where they belong and shuts the computer down.

Personally I think there needs to be tighter security around the system folders that Bitdefender creates for its product so it can not be manipulated in this way even for a user profile. I can not imagine what a power user profile could do or admin profile could do if a virus was able to drop a payload on the system and completely neutralize this product. I have been using Bitdefender for years but this is a big oops in my opinion. Please fix. Now I am willing to go as far as saying my son could be doing more that he is not showing me but from what I saw him do was pretty sound.

Alex_A

Hi, @Phoebius

yes, I just take off my hat, as a sign of respect for your son