I have been a Linux advocate for almost a decade now and from 'my past experience', I can tell you have opened a topic of a huge discussion about people should switch to Linux Desktops (which is off-topic here). But I respectfully disagree with your statement, "anti-virus programs usually do more harm than good".
From a conservative viewpoint, some protection is still better to have than no protection at all. And the example you gave here, an anti-virus mistakenly classified your domain as a potential threat, makes a weaker point. By a few mistakes, we cannot cancel out a million of other successes. A false alarm is yet favourable than no alarm at all. --- Shabab Mustafa President Wikimedia Bangladesh On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 5:56 PM Shlomi Fish <shlo...@shlomifish.org> wrote: > On Thu, 3 May 2018 19:27:16 -0500 > John Bennett <jbenn...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > Hello, > > > > Many of you may have been receiving emails in the last 24 hours warning > you > > of "Multiple failed attempts to log in" with your account. I wanted to > let > > you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware of the > > situation, and working with others in the organization on steps to > decrease > > the success of attacks like these. > > > > The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from our > > systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized access > to > > random accounts. These types of efforts are increasingly common for > > websites of our reach. A vast majority of these attempts have been > > unsuccessful, and we are reaching out personally to the small number of > > accounts which we believe have been compromised. > > > > While we are constantly looking at improvements to our security systems > and > > processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as these, the > best > > method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take to > > safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in the past > > to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we continue > > to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a secure > > computer and account. That includes regularly changing your passwords,[2] > > actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping your > > system software up to date. > > > > From my experience, anti-virus programs usually do more harm than good. For > example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus recently blocked > my > entire shlomifish.org domain because it apparently misclassified an > executable > download as problematic (and it was built from source using > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMake and > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor > so it is unlikely that that is the case.). MS Windows' poor resistance to > malware and the fact that Windows Update is so dysfunctional (see > http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Windows-Update/ ) are the > reasons > why I cannot recommend running it as a desktop, and instead one should use > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Desktop - desktop linux or similar. > > A little off topic perhaps, but needs to be said. > > > My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report back if we > > notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please contact > > the Support and Safety team (susa{{@}}wikimedia.org). > > > > John Bennett > > Director of Security, Wikimedia Foundation > > > > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Password_strength_requirements > > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ChangePassword > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ > http://www.shlomifish.org/open-source/projects/fortune-mod/ > > If a tree falls down in the middle of the forest, and there’s no one there > to > hear it… what colour is the tree? > — Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge > > Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply . > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
