Tablet Secure?

[Goldkoron]

Not too savvy here, but I have a few questions about the tablet.

1: Is it safe and secure to log into websites such as google for example for accessing google docs documents?

2: Can viruses get onto your computer through the tablet?

3: How does the tablet browser simulator work? Does it wipe all of your browser history and saved log ins after you quit the game?

[SaltUponWounds]

I have the same questions.

[Flightless]

As far as I can tell, the tablet is an internet browser. Therefore, viruses and any other form of malware may pose a risk to your device. So just as with normal browsers, consider what you're clicking on.

[Star-X]

The tablet should be perfectly safe with Google Drive or Steam Community/Store pages, as both lack the absolutely toxic ads littering the rest of the net.

However, any site with even a single ad is potentially unsafe due to ads being close to, if not, the primary method of malware infections. Since getting my entire household to use Adblock Plus no one in my house has gotten a single piece of malware, even with the paper thin defense of Microsoft Security Essentials (which is still #1 for antivirus due to how it's the only one in existence that's free and doesn't eat up insane amounts of system resources). Any browser that isn't on an iOS/console-style walled garden setup (both iOS and consoles are damn near immune to viruses due to said walled garden setup, since getting a virus on one of those requires you to download a virus from the app store/online shop, which has almost a 0% chance of happening) or using adblock plus is theoretically at risk of malware from ads, so it's safer to just stick with adless pages like Google Drive and Steam Community when using something without adblock plus or firmware-locked apps.

[Karl]

MS Security Essentials is hardly the best free one.

Personal preference of antivirus aside, I am also wondering how the logins work on this tablet. If I log into something on the tablet, is everyone who connects also logged in? Do their computers each individuall load the same page and share cookies or something?

[Oen]

Originally posted by Karl:

MS Security Essentials is hardly the best free one.

I think you missed his point, it is free and isn't bloated. Yeah it doesn't do a lot of enterprise features, such as scan various email clients for attachments or block harmful sites, but for basic consumers it is great. Anyone that doesn't visit questionable sites regularly should have no issue using it alone.

Microsoft used to have major issues with viruses.. Apple ran the "You can't get a virus on a Mac" campaign and pointing out you had to shell out more money for Windows to buy anti-virus software. I spoke with programmers I believe from McAfee (was 2-3 years ago), and Security Essentials they said was their toughest competitor. McAfee claimed they were better because they had quicker response times to new threats and enterprise support for customers effected by viruses. On a consumer level they said they couldn't really compete, because Microsoft had money to throw at their AV product and didnt need to charge consumers (McAfee has to charge to stay profitable).

Also it is called Windows Defender now.

[Karl]

Actually what he said was "it's the only one in existence that's free and doesn't eat up insane amounts of system resources" which is far from accurate. And McAfee has difficulty remaining profitable largely because they have a poor product, in my opinion. That and John McAfee is a bit crazy. If you want an example, look at Avast, who is doing so well that just recently they even made their product free for business use, versus MS's which is free only up to 10 users.

The reason for Mac being allegedly virus-immune was not because it actually is, but because when you have 10% market share, why bother writing viruses for it? Now that they're hitting numbers like 13.4% in Q3 2014 (their highest figure to date), the dark side of the internet is starting to take notice, and now you can get a virus on Mac.

Anyway, I'm sure the OP would appreciate if we didn't divert the thread further, and I would still like to know more about how the tablet works across a multiplayer game.

[Star-X]

Originally posted by Karl:

Actually what he said was "it's the only one in existence that's free and doesn't eat up insane amounts of system resources" which is far from accurate. And McAfee has difficulty remaining profitable largely because they have a poor product, in my opinion. That and John McAfee is a bit crazy. If you want an example, look at Avast, who is doing so well that just recently they even made their product free for business use, versus MS's which is free only up to 10 users.

The reason for Mac being allegedly virus-immune was not because it actually is, but because when you have 10% market share, why bother writing viruses for it? Now that they're hitting numbers like 13.4% in Q3 2014 (their highest figure to date), the dark side of the internet is starting to take notice, and now you can get a virus on Mac.

Anyway, I'm sure the OP would appreciate if we didn't divert the thread further, and I would still like to know more about how the tablet works across a multiplayer game.

I apologize for continuing this discussion, but let me be clear: Avast is becoming bloatware like every other antivirus out there. The more recent versions cause all sorts of bloatware-esque problems, not to mention how they occasionally nuke the internet connectivity capabilities of Windows 7 (my case was so bad that after doing a system restore it actually BRICKED my windows install; I had to reinstall windows to fix it). Every other supposedly "good" free antivirus goes through the same damn crap; starts off great and unbloated, then gets bloated, and then proceeds to pull a McAffee and start nuking random system components on the off chance one of them has a virus. MSE/Windows Defender so far has remained immune to this, most likely because if MS ever did pull a McAffee, a lot of people would seriously consider just switching to iOS completely to avoid viruses, and no one wants a world where all PCs are limited by console DRM; that would likely result in awesome stuff like Tabletop Simulator becoming contraband software solely because it doesn't appease the corperate overlords.

AAAAAAANYWAY, on topic, the key to using the tablet is to use direct links to Google Drive files; doing so is by far the safest way to go about using it, as you can't get malware from the tablet if you're only visiting Google Drive. Youtube's probably also safe, as Google heavily monitors content there and I kinda doubt malware is an issue even through ads on Youtube due to google's security measures. I'd avoid anything else though, as there are just way too many ways in which good sites can get malware-ridden ads. Damn corrupt advertising businesses.

[tomwsmf]

Security is not just about bloatware, spy ware and the obvious children of using MS products.

Secure also means privacy, tracking, leaking info and being subject to exploits.

If you are into security you might also want to look at some solutions that work on your upstream connectivity. A proxy like Squid , Privoxy or Tor. You can even think about setting up your router to do some of the heavy lifting. If you have a fairly uptodate router look at things like Openwrt and DDwrt. Lots of ways to keep all your connected devices a little bit safer.

As the Tablet is not functioning in the Linux version of TTS I am safe as houses:)-

Privoxy - http://www.privoxy.org/

Tor - https://www.torproject.org/

Openwrt - https://openwrt.org/

[Karl]

Off-topic:
It sounds like you had problems other than Avast on your computer. It doesn't "nuke" your internet connectivity. I use it on Windows 7 on three computers and don't have any of the problems you just listed. My installation, which has been in place and working for years, is showing a paltry 20 MB used under private working set, a very small amount of memory. You call it bloatware and blame it for "bricking Windows" but I seriously doubt Avast was the cause of your troubles.

Also, Privoxy, Tor, and Openwrt are not replacements for antivirus on your computer... completely different subject...

On-topic:
The tablet is running a browser, so I fully expect it to be vulerable to various types of attack, just like any other browser. If you go to a site that does browser detection, it shows up as Chrome, so I imagine it's running Chrome on the backend.

What I'm more interested in is how the cookies and logins work. For instance, say I log into Pandora in a multiplayer game. I imagine one of two things happens:

1.) The tablet in everyone'Tabletop Simulator is now logged into my Pandora account.
2.) Pandora doesn't actually get logged in on anyone's screen except mine, meaning it doesn't work for anyone else.

What concerns me the most about this is, could someone potentially stay logged into my account in their Tabletop Simulator after they leave the game? I want an answer to that more than anything.

[KAGE]

What I'm more interested in is how the cookies and logins work. For instance, say I log into Pandora in a multiplayer game. I imagine one of two things happens:

1.) The tablet in everyone'Tabletop Simulator is now logged into my Pandora account.
2.) Pandora doesn't actually get logged in on anyone's screen except mine, meaning it doesn't work for anyone else.

What concerns me the most about this is, could someone potentially stay logged into my account in their Tabletop Simulator after they leave the game? I want an answer to that more than anything.


this is also something that concerns me greatly when you use the tablet what info does it use exactly? say you decide to use google does it use ur COOKIES? and info and such ♥♥♥♥? or what because say i where to go into youtube using someone elses tablet and sudenly it auto logs into my account like a normal browser does you know when u use ur computer and it automatically keeps ur info and such that would be a SERIOUS issue as basically someone would have full access to ur account.

[Karl]

Originally posted by qwertyo:

What I'm more interested in is how the cookies and logins work. For instance, say I log into Pandora in a multiplayer game. I imagine one of two things happens:

1.) The tablet in everyone'Tabletop Simulator is now logged into my Pandora account.
2.) Pandora doesn't actually get logged in on anyone's screen except mine, meaning it doesn't work for anyone else.

I believe #2 is the case. At one point I tried watching a cartoon on YouTube during a game of Mistfall, and what I found was, although it would load and play on the tablet for each player, it didn't keep them syncrhonized. If one person paused the video, everyone else's would continue to play.

What this tells me is that the tablet is a fully localized instance per player, and the only thing synchronized is what page is loaded. Based on this (not on actual testing, mind you), I surmise that each player also has a local set of cookies and logins, and anything that requires a login would simply fail to load on the tablet for other players.

[SaltyO]

The TTS environment is a sandbox in more than the game sense. The tablet is not actually a tablet, obviously, but an emulator that uses
Unity webplayer (I think) and the security apparatus that that entails. So no, it's not completely safe. Also, virus checking software is completely redundant, and it usually doesn't stop the worst things from happening. You are better off not running Windows 10 if security is that much of a concern. Learning Noscript, Ublock Origin, and even Umatrix doesn't hurt either.

You can read more about how unity security policies are defined by the developer. here:
https://docs.unity3d.com/462/Documentation/Manual/SecuritySandbox.html

Most of the bad stuff is excluded, which is why you can't run every piece of .js on the TTS tablet. I imagine there's also another layer of security in that it is now integrated with Steam services. Nothing is truly secure though. You should be more worried about Silverlight.