Anti Theft feature concern - No way to turn feature off?

liberty610 · 2022-11-03T13:04:47+00:00

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I just bought a 2 year subscription to Bitdefender, and I wish I knew about this ant theft wipe feature before I had made my purchase. I have combed over several topics on this discussion forum and have been disappointed to see there is apparently no way to turn off the Anti Theft wipe feature?

How is it THIS easy to wipe out a device? I don't share passwords with anyone or anything like that, so someone else I know getting into my Bitdefender central account isn't a concern to me, but what if for some reason, BitDefender themselves sees a breach of some sort? Anyone who gains access to user accounts can remotely wipe millions of devices?? How is 2FA not required to do such a thing with a top security offering? Or a way to turn the feature off on say Desktop computers?

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Alexandru_BD

Hello @liberty610 and welcome to the Community!

As you have already noticed, the development teams have received a couple of interesting suggestions for the anti-theft feature from our members:

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/93000/improvements-to-bitdefender-anti-theft-feature

The first and perhaps most important measure of protection is prevention. The Bitdefender solutions include several layers (prevention, protection, remediation - to name a few) and complex technologies developed precisely to ensure that we can protect everything that is important to you. When it comes to the wipe function, only the Central account holder should have access to it. For this reason, I recommend that you don't share your account credentials with anyone else and make sure to enable the 2-Factor Authentication security layer for your account.

With 2-Factor Authentication, your Central account can only be accessed on devices you trust. Each time you sign in to your Central from a new device, your password and a verification code will be required. More information regarding this feature is available at the link below:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/1581/

This feature ensures that even IF your credentials are known to somebody else, they will not be able to gain access to your Central account, thus no one except you can change the settings. This defense also protects against cyberattacks, such as keyloggers, brute-force, or dictionary attacks. Multiple failed attempts to login will also trigger an account lock, in effect until the identity of the owner can be proven.

I hope the information is helpful and brings peace of mind. Needless to say that, no Bitdefender employee nor third party has access to your login credentials, so rogue wipe scenarios are out of the question.

Your contributions and ideas are always welcome and please feel free to share with us any other suggestions that come to mind in the future.

Best regards

liberty610

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/317771#Comment_317771

Thanks for the reply, but I just don't feel this feature is where it needs to be. Too much power in the wrong hands. I do not give any of my account credentials for anything to anyone else, but I have still have data breaches because the servers owned by the companies themselves get breached.

I got my 2 years on a really cheap deal, so I decided to just take the small loss and I have un-installed your product from my devices. There is just not enough security and options around this anti theft feature. I just don't trust it.

Alexandru_BD

Hello @liberty610 and thank you for your response and feedback.

The security of Bitdefender is designed in a specific way, so that IF a defense fails, another one takes its place.

Of course, it is entirely your decision to make, if the product does not meet your expectations, you may always request a refund of your license/subscription, if the conditions are met. You may obtain a refund by contacting refunds@bitdefender.com within 30 days of your initial purchase or of the automatic renewal date.

This product is trusted by millions of users worldwide and I can assure you that there have never been such concerns, given that all available security layers are enabled for your account, you have nothing to worry about.

Best regards