Search Advisor Doesn't Work

After investigating more, it seems this STILL happens because in order to get Search Advisor to work, you need to enable "Scan HTTP traffic" and "Scan SSL" in the AV settings.

This is usually a risky and lazy implementation of the feature - instead of creating separate add-ons for each supported browser, they probably make the feature work thorugh a single WFP driver that runs system-wide.

This is risky because:

1. HTTP scanning in BitD has been known to produce issues and interfering with the browsing experience in their own products and others that use its engines (slowdowns, incorrect rendering of pages, etc) for years now.

2. SSL scanning is actually BitD performing a MITM (with its own certificate) to scan the SSL traffic. With more and more sites adopting SSL by default, this is not only risky from a compatibility POV, but it also raises some questions in terms of privacy and security. It also increases the attack surface if the product itself is vulnerable and eventually exploited. And there have been plenty of reports on vulnerabilities in the BitDefender user products - just look it up.

They should change this implementation and do it properly, like the majority of the other products do it in the industry:

- add proper add-ons separately to the browsers (which takes more work maintaining from a development perspective, but is the more technically sound alternative and is fairer for users who don't want to run with HTTP/S scanning ON).

- load modules in the browser images to properly detect exploitation attempts

Any official word on whether any of these changes are going to be considered?

A product update was recently released: build version 18.19.0.1345.

Please right click on the Bitdefender icon located in system tray and from the menu select "Update Now". Reboot the PC, then check if the issue persists.

Hi Georgia,

The issue persists. I am not noticing any change in the implementation. Search Advisor will only work if HTTP(S) scanning is on.