Subj : Microsoft Defender will finally stop claiming Tor is malware
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Tue Oct 03 2023 14:00:04

Microsoft Defender will finally stop claiming Tor is malware

Date:
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 12:47:36 +0000

Description:
Microsoft Defender was wrongly flagging part of the Tor Browser as a 
potential trojan - but this is apparently now fixed.

FULL STORY
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Tor has confirmed that Microsoft Defender will no longer wrongly flag the 
alternative browser as malware after a battle with Microsoft to get the story 
straight. 

The problem stems from TorBrowser 12.5.6, which contains an executable file 
that Defender deemed unsafe, but a Tor spokesperson said that the file was 
actually unchanged byte-for-byte compared with version 12.5.5. 

Affected users were having the tor.exe file flagged as a trojan 
(Win32/Malgent!MTB) and were unable to use the software. Microsoft will let 
you use the Tor browser again 

In the meantime, some users were reporting success in reinstalling the 
previous build, which was not seemingly triggering Windows Defenders trojan 
response. 

Compared with Tor version 12.5.5, build 12.5.6 added just a couple of 
security tweaks including backporting security fixes from Firefox 115.3.1 to 
102.15.1. 

It took Tor contacting Microsoft to get it working correctly again. By 
sharing the .exe file with Redmond, Tor was told: 

At this time, the submitted files do not meet our criteria for malware or 
potentially unwanted applications. The detection has been removed. 

The update reads: If your TorBrowser stopped working during this weekend, 
make sure your Windows Defender is up to date, and either unquarantine 
tor.exe, or reinstall TorBrowser by downloading it from [the] Tor Project 
website . 

The latest signature database (1.397.1910.0) is no longer considering the 
tor.exe file to be a problem. 

Precisely why Microsoft Defender had a problem with the unchanged tor.exe 
file remains unclear. TechRadar Pro has asked Microsoft for more information, 
but the company did not immediately respond. More from TechRadar Pro Think 
youve been a victim of an online attack? Here are the best identity theft 
protection tools Watch out - Microsoft Defender is flagging some legitimate 
URLs as harmful Weve rounded up the best firewalls for a cybersecurity boost



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/microsoft-defender-will-finally-stop-cl
aiming-tor-is-malware


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