Q: What is Trusteer Endpoint Protection and do I need it?
A: In the tech industry’s ongoing attempts to create better tools to protect consumers, they often come up with software that focuses in specific areas.
Trusteer Endpoint Protection (a.k.a Rapport) is a legitimate program that is specifically designed to help fight financial fraud and is often recommended by various banks for reducing the chances of fraud and identity theft when it comes to online transactions.
Originally developed in Israel in 2006, Trusteer was acquired by IBM in 2013 for an estimated $800 million so any concerns about it being a malware program can be put to rest.
Why banks recommend it
The program is specifically designed to prevent many known banking Trojan malware such as ZeuS, Silon, Torpig, SpyEye and others from attacking its users.
Malware designed to attack online banking transactions will attempt to steal login credentials so cyberthieves can access online accounts or steal the identity of its victims.
They tend to use keyloggers, screen grabbing and phishing as a means of exploiting users, which is what Trusteer is specifically designed to help protect against.
As such, many banks recommend the free program as an extra layer of protection, because the banks have installed the protection on their side and it works best when both sides are using the same security system (thus the name ‘Endpoint’).
Banks are interested in both security and regulatory compliance, which the Trusteer platform provides, which is why so many have partnered with IBM to promote the program.
The real world
If the only thing your computer needed to do was interact with your bank, Trusteer would be a no-brainer, but for most of us that’s not the real world.
Despite the fact that it’s designed to work as an added layer of protection to your primary security program, many users have reported a multitude of issues over the years.
Online complaints range from the initial installation process to incompatibility with other programs to a noticeable degradation in performance as well as a complicated removal procedure.
As with any security program, it can prevent you from operating your computer in a normal way because it blocks access to anything it perceives as a threat (false positives), which can be very frustrating.
Should you use it?
As with any protection system, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution, so determining whether you should use the program or not requires some homework.
If your bank is pushing you to install the program, before doing so, I’d strongly recommend that you research the specific issues with whatever internet security program you have installed by doing a search for ‘Trusteer issues with XXX” (where XXX is the name of your program).
Not only will you get information specifically from the support resources of the internet security company, you’ll likely get user feedback on their experiences as well.
As an advanced search tip in Google, if you include –trusteer.com at the end of your search query, the results will be filtered to exclude anything from Trusteer’s website so you’ll only get feedback from third parties.
Business users should do their experimenting on non-mission critical computers to avoid any compatibility disruptions to workflow.
Ken Colburn is founder and CEO of Data Doctors Computer Services. Ask any tech question on Facebook or Twitter.
