Hello, ALARMS SOUNDING!
Something I am VERY concerned about … I have been using Avast Free Antivirus for some years, and have been impressed by its protective actions. However, today I got a warning message that it had stopped a dodgy web site threat, and then it led me to the “Resolving Issues” screen. There, it points out that I have 228 unprotected sensitive documents, and then lists them - “employment documents”, “plane tickets”, “travel documents”, and “other sensitive documents”.
So Avast is now SpyWare itself, scanning my entire PC and analysing what is in the files. How do I know that it isn’t secretly downloading this information for its own use? What’s going on?
I’d be interested to know what people think.
free version does not have ransomware shield >> https://support.avast.com/en-eu/article/Antivirus-Ransomware-Shield-FAQ
So Avast is now SpyWare itself, scanning my entire PC and analysing what is in the files. How do I know that it isn't secretly downloading this information for its own use? [b]What's going on?[/b]It is a security warning. If it was spying it would do it silently and not warn you
If you dont trust your security program, dont install it. Do you trust microsoft? if not dont use it
The point of spying is stealth. Avast notified you of personal files on your system that, if stolen, might cause issues.
Any a/v has to go everywhere in your system to protect all of it (100%) from malware. Limiting access to parts of your PC for an a/v makes no sense unless one does not want or need complete protection. A/V’s do a different job and meet different expectations than say, an office program would. It is not just avast.
I use AIS and if I’m not mistaken the “scanning” you have been made aware of, is the same process and information I get when I use ‘Sensitive Data Shield’ which is a component offered with AIS (Avast Internet Security). The shield then protects these sensitive documents from being hacked/accessed without permission.
All of us think we run a very tight ship. We all think our computer is very secure.
When something or someone points out our errors and mistakes, we can do one of two things.
We can batten down the hatches and listen to the advice offered or,
we can dispute the findings and try to shoot the messenger.
It’s your computer and your choice. I personally would listen to the advice and secure your system. 
But in some countries, Turkey for instance, providers may inject a normal Avast download with state spyware like StrongPity.
(provider known as CL:Turkey).
The world is becoming a dangerous place: https://citizenlab.ca/2018/03/bad-traffic-sandvines-packetlogic-devices-deploy-government-spyware-turkey-syria/
What could avast do about this? Can an end-user check with a known as good hash?
Should we expose rogue state compromittal?
Again the world becomes “split intwo” >:( read on backgrounds: https://www.welivesecurity.com/2017/09/21/new-finfisher-surveillance-campaigns/ but there particular countries weren’t mentioned).
polonus
Saw this when it was originally posted, but waited a few days to see if Avast had any response since they were explicitly cited in the first link. So far, I haven’t noticed one.
Since I prefer to use the offline installers, I looked around for some way to get them via https, since the forum NEW Version Topics usually offer only http links. I found that they are available by going to the Avast Support web site and searching via How can we help? for “offline install” and selecting Installing Avast Free Antivirus and clicking the DOWNLOAD AVAST FREE ANTIVIRUS button there. The Save File popup then confirms that file source is https. Same seems true for other AV products, not just Free.
One observation; the https links always included some apparent locale information, in my case en-us, while the NEW Version http links (of course?) do not. Perhaps the https connections cannot be made “universally”, so in the interest of brevity and fewer errors, the http links are the straightforward way to proceed.
Thanks, Polonus, for pointing out this small chink in the Avast armor. I suppose letting Avast update itself via the GUI is safe, but I like keeping an old version installer or two in case an update goes haywire.