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5 Ways FREE Antivirus Could Cost You

 

 

Let's look at the facts.


Most free protection doesn’t have the security you need to stay safe from hacking and other cyberattacks.
When it comes to protecting your family’s devices, you get what you pay for.

ransomware

1: Ransomware encrypts your files and holds them for ransom. Even if you pay, there’s no guarantee you’ll get them back.


FACT:
The FBI estimated hackers would collect over $1 billion in ransoms in 2016.2 Without rollback features, free security can’t protect you. Revolutionary rollback technology from Webroot can restore your ransomed files.3

Identity Theft

2: Online identity theft is when hackers get your credentials and more to steal from you.


FACT:
Approx. 15M US residents have their identities used fraudulently each year.4 By using free software without identity protection, you could become a victim too. Webroot identity and privacy protection works in the background to secure your usernames, account numbers, and other personal info.

Password

3: Reused passwords are a prime target for cybercriminals.


FACT:
Yahoo! suffered multiple breaches in 2016 which exposed Yahoo account holders’ passwords.5   Unless it includes password management, your free security isn’t protecting your passwords. With Webroot password management, you remember just one master password for secure access to all your online accounts.

Mobile Security

4: Smartphones are at risk for both hacking and physical theft.


FACT:
Webroot found that nearly 10 million new and updated Android® apps were risky or downright dangerous in 2016.6   Most free cybersecurity doesn’t cover your mobile devices.   With Webroot, you can use your mobile devices knowing emails, texts, Facebook links, and more are proactively scanned. Webroot also offers lost device protection to help locate a lost or stolen phone.

Privacy

5: It's your most valuable asset as you shop, bank, and communicate online.


FACT:
91% of US adults agree that consumers have lost control of how personal info is collected and used.7   Free cybersecurity without optimization and secure erase features can't protect your online activity from tracking.   Webroot offers System Optimizer to wipe away traces of online activity, reclaim hard drive space, and makes deleted files unrecoverable.

Stay safe from hacking and other cyberattacks.

Free isn’t always the best option.

"[Avira Antivirus] has an extremely slow on-demand scan … Sluggish real-time scan … So-so antiphishing score … Real-time protection missed some malware EXEs"

- PCMag


"[Malwarebytes 3.0 Free] has no real-time protection...Missed older malware samples in testing...Some files reported as quarantined were still present...The results were disappointing"

- PCMag


"[Comodo Antivirus 10] failed to detect hand-modified malware samples. Dismal score in malware-download test … No web-based protection against malicious and fraudulent URLs … Only a handful of recent products scored lower than its 37 percent protection"

- PCMag


"[Microsoft Windows Defender’s] detection rate of 71 percent and score of 6.6 points are among the lowest in products tested… Webroot SecureAnywhere® AntiVirus… detected 100 percent of the current samples"

- PCMag


 

 

1 Webroot Inc. 2017 Webroot Threat Report. (February 2017).
2 http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/15/technology/ransomware-cyber-security/index.html
3 Webroot security must be installed before infection and cannot resolve every ransomware infection.
4 http://www.identitytheft.info/victims.aspx
5 http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-data-breach-billion-accounts-2016-12
6 Webroot Inc. 2017 Webroot Threat Report. (February 2017).
7 http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/21/the-state-of-privacy-in-america/