Description

Hello Everyone,

So I'm giving away games to raise awareness of a charity I'm starting (don't worry, I'm not asking for/accepting any donations). I run a company that sells an enterprise computer security solution, but now I'd like to give back by making it available for free for home use.

I think the free technology is a perfect fit for gamers. It runs in the background without any UI/popups to pull you out of a game. It won't impact system performance (back when I had more free time, I played a lot of competitive multiplayer games and hated AV products that impacted my games). And frankly as a demographic I think we engage in some, let's say, riskier surfing behaviors that make it especially necessary to have something better than AV.

You can learn more about my security offering, Solidus, and download it at http://GetSolid.us. Feel free to message me here with any questions you might have (Tech-wise, about my credentials, etc).

I'm also planning to do some non-bundled giveaways for users of the technology to increase adoption and further encourage users to spread the word. I'd really love to see this charity make as much of a difference and protect as many people as possible. Let me know if you install the product (honor policy), and I will add you to a whitelist for those future giveaways.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you take advantage of the free security offering.

I love the website and the bio. What kind of things will your software find that won't get caught by others?

6 years ago
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Thank you very much for taking the time to take a look and provide feedback. It is really valuable.

In answer to your question, my software is capable of detecting unknown and polymorphic malware. Antivirus uses signatures (basically the malware equivalent of a fingerprint). So unless AV has seen the malware before elsewhere, it will go undetected. This leaves you vulnerable until AV vendors receive a sample of the specific variant you have, analyze it, and release new definitions (assuming the malware does not disable your updates or your AV entirely). And if the malware is polymorphic (varying slightly on every computer it is installed on), AV may never have signatures capable of removing any variant of the malware you receive.

In addition, my software also detects file-less malware which AV often struggles with. It can also detect legitimate software that is being used for malicious purposes (some malware relies on Windows binaries to do its harm). And I also have the ability to remove rootkits present on a system with my software. Additionally, my software can remove the Potentially Unwanted Programs (known as PUPs) that AV typically does not. As in all cases, this will only be done without explicit permission from the user once I detect the malicious software.

It is important to note that my software is designed to detect only persistent malware (malware capable of automatically launching when you restart your computer). There is a small subset of malware that does not make an attempt to persist. By design, the technology is not designed to handle those threats. It is a tradeoff that allows me to make the software less resource-intensive and easier to manage with a small team (just me volunteering my time for the incident response at the moment). But I think it is important to be honest about what a security product will and won't do - there is a lot of snake-oil in the industry unfortunately. It is also important to note that because my software does not run in a real-time protection mode (for liability rather than technical reasons), it will not stop ransomware. I am working on a separate solution to that problem.

I hope that gives you a better idea of what types of threats I am capable of detecting and remediating. If you have any other questions (or want me to go into more technical detail), feel free to follow-up :). Thanks again for the feedback.

6 years ago*
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*malware

6 years ago
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Very interesting. Enjoy the detailed feedback. I will check it out.

6 years ago
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Thanks for the information and the giveaway! I'll check it out. :)

6 years ago
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Thanks for taking the time to take a look. Let me know if you have any questions.

6 years ago
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The website looks good and everything appears on the up and up, but I'm having a hard time finding reviews of the application and I'm reluctant to be one of the early adopters for such an unknown application.

6 years ago
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That's completely reasonable (and pretty much the answer I give on one of my FAQ question). I am partnering with one university this month and hopefully another by the end of the month. When they are willing to publicly vouch for the security offering, would you like me to let you know?

6 years ago
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Sure. How about also presenting your application to tech blogs/publications? That's where most people would see it, right?

6 years ago
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It's a good idea and is part of my medium-term plan. At the moment, I am trying to primarily reach out where I have existing relationships. The response rates are much better in those circumstances, and it ends up being a more efficient use of my time.

Journalists in the tech space often want the same assurances you do (frequently more because their reputations are also at stake), and the vast majority lack the technical expertise to personally evaluate the effectiveness/authenticity of an unfamiliar security product. I anticipate reaching out with that vetting already done by universities will increase my response rates to those cold contacts.

Thanks again for the feedback.

6 years ago
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OK. I am installing on Win10.32bit right now. (eml: tavidavi...gmail.com) I am always a fan of innovators against malware. Of course, Win Defender tried to stop you as an unknown publisher. A simple (inaccurate) progress bar on the dos window would give indication to the user that the 15min install is progressing (and not frozen), with some indication of approximate completion

6 years ago*
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Thank you for taking a look, downloading, and the great feedback.

If you have any questions or feedback (now or down the line), feel free to reach out to me here, via LinkedIn (found on the website in the About Me section), or at joe@SolidusSecurity.com.

The length of the install comes entirely from the hashing of files in the areas that are monitored on the system. The initial hashing routine is pretty primitive, hashing the same file multiple times if it is triggered by multiple areas of the registry. The next version will cache the previous results once a file is hashed to speed that up. Hopefully that will make enough of a difference to avoid a user thinking the install might have hung. But if not, your suggestions are good. I cannot provide an accurate time estimate indicator (at least without doing more work than would make sense), but it is a good idea to give some indication that the install is progressing. I should be able to do that.

Thank you again.

6 years ago
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Thank you:D~~~~

6 years ago
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