Beware! Antivirus Software May Sell Your Browsing Data

Your antivirus software can act as a spying agent and sell your sensitive browsing data to third parties. According to the research, a free antivirus software is accumulating consumers’ data without their consent. Therefore, you should use a VPN that does not keep logs of its users.

As a result, your antivirus cannot collect your data and sell it to third party marketers. You can use some of the best VPN apps to secure your multiple devices without any hassle.

Update:

Avast will no longer share their users’ data with third parties; it will shut down its Jumpshot subsidiary.

Avast harvests and sell your browsing history

Have you ever used Avast antivirus? If yes then you might have compromised your privacy. The famous antivirus software collects your browsing history and provides it to third party marketers by the help of another subsidiary Jumpshot.

Organizations who are paid customers of Avast can take full advantage as they can access full “clickstream data” of Avast users. It means they can see what they are doing over the web. For instance, if you want to know which Amazon user has bought a particular product at a particular date, you can easily identify that specific individual.

How Avast collects its users’ data?

In case you have installed the Avast antivirus software through default settings, your browsing histories will be sold to marketers. However, the antivirus does not use its browser extensions when it comes to collecting its users. They do so by the help of using its exclusive desktop Avast antivirus app.

After installing the app, a popup message appears on your screen asking about your consent if you are willing to share your data or not. If you have clicked “I agree” intentionally or unintentionally, chances are that Avast has sold your web browsing information.

But, you can still deactivate the data sharing option by heading towards Menu>Settings>General>Personal Privacy

This way, you can stop Avast Antivirus from collecting your browsing data in future.

Browser extensions are also a part of the problem

Different antivirus software deploy browser extensions when they need to collect their users’ data for different purposes. You guessed it correctly as Avast and AVG browser extensions have gathered their users’ browsing activities in the recent past.

This was the main reason Google had to remove both Avast and AVG browser extensions from its Chrome Web Store.

Avoid using free Antivirus Software

Free antivirus software has to earn some bucks in order to fulfill their operational cost. Therefore, you should avoid using free antivirus software at any cost. In case, you cannot combat online threats without using an antivirus software, turn off the data sharing option first.

You may use paid VPN services if you do not want to use antivirus software. They offer some attractive privacy features like ad blocker, internet kill switch, malware blocker and others. Moreover, it allows you change country VPN server to access geo-restricted content of your preferred regions.

8 Best anti-tracking software to protect your online privacy

A handful of anti-tracking programs are still available that do not track your online surfing tasks. If you do not want your antivirus software start tracking your web browsing activities, here are some popular anti-tracking software excluding VPNs you can use:

• Privoxy
• Disconnect Browser
• Freenet
• TrackOff
• DuckDuck Go
• Tor Browser
• Microsoft’s Windows Defender
• Malwarebytes

Final Thoughts

Summing up, securing your web browsing history is still in your own hands. You may use premium VPN servicesand other anti-tracking software that are mentioned above to bypass Avast antivirus tracking issue successfully.

You can share your feedback in the comments section given below.

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://latesthackingnews.com/2020/02/14/beware-antivirus-software-may-sell-your-browsing-data/

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