Do ACEMAGIC Mini PCs Still Come with Viruses??? or did they clean up their act?
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- Опубликовано: 8 июн 2024
- So, do these mini PCs from Acemagic still come infected with viruses or malware? Now more than 3 months later did they clean up their act? Is this now a good product to buy if you are looking to get into the mini PC market? Well, in this video we explore that and see if Acemagic did the right thing.
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📖 ** CHAPTERS ** 📖
00:00 Intro
03:20 Reviewing AceMagic's Response
15:57 My Thoughts to the Response
17:51 Testing the PC for Virues and Malware
25:10 Summary: Did AceMagic Fix it? Other Use Cases of the Mini PC
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a proper test would require internet connection A. for up to date virus definitions and B. because any potential malware might not be installed until connected to the internet
Not at all. If the previous bad stuff came preinstalled an offline scan would have caught it. I also DID connect it to the internet if you watch the video fully. I mentioned after finding a clean scan offline I connected it, got the latest windows updates, and scanned again.
@@PCTechHustle fair point! my apoligies, i did watch till the end i mustve missed that. I still thinka deeper dive would be nescescary maybe a wireshark scan or something since as far as im aware its not hard to make a virus undetectable by defender, i wouldnt be suprised if there could be a uefi rootkit, my scepticism comes from there statement which reads to me like "weve made efforts to make sure our virus is much less detectable" and not to mention offering justa 25% refund is pathetic, it should be a full refund considering it couldve potentionally stolen thousands out of your bank account or crypto wallet! none the less great video and thanks for spending nthe time the money investigating this :)
Did you attach a network sniffer to make sure there's nothing embedded in the firmware? Still not worth the risk.
I didn’t go to that length but it was isolated on a non-routeable network. Impossible for it to reach anything inside my network. Being that I’m going to wipe the OS ultimately anyway what I did was sufficient enough for me.
How this brand reacted to these foundings showed me they definitely are not worthy any recognition at all. I wont ever buy another machine and only found out about these viruses when I searched a guide on yt about it.
If that wouldnt have happened, I definitely wouldve lost my wallets.
I just did a clean install of windows with the drivers.
Hope that they completely tell us how in the future, and yeah I don’t like using a modded OS when buying a pc that’s already built or a laptop.
Yep! Modded OS, not okay!
At least there were no more viruses.
Happy to say so for sure!
Just subscribed to your channel, but this video is concerning. You mentioned being in network security, but honestly did a bare minimum threat assessment. There's still so many red flags here, an OS reinstall isn't nearly enough for what is very likely still on that system. No chance anyone from any sized IT dept. would give that BIOS or install a pass. You should have access to professional tools if you're in network security, why not use them?
A simple reinstall is not something I would recommend, which I said in the video is not viable. I would recommend a full new operating system image directly from Microsoft, not the one it came with.
I used what I consider sufficient enough tools to deem the system safe. The BIOS too, really wasn't the item in question or what was discovered in the wild as being infected. Sure, can a BIOS contain vulnerabilities? Absolutely, but those vulnerabilities are a bit different than a virus or malware AND extremely rare. Much more common and typical viruses and malware infect internal functions of an operating system or file system.
The issues reported with these devices were found on common windows defender / virus scanners. Malware bytes and defender are actually very powerful and effective tools. Curious what other tools you would think to use? My organization for example uses windows defender for virus protection on an endpoint level. We do use other types of enterprise security scanners but that would mean I would have to connect this device to my company network to run scans against it while on network, no chance in heck I'm doing that.
Sure an extended layer of virus protection is done at the network level scanning for signatures related to known malware and viruses. Which I mentioned in the video too, I connected the system to a locked down network that would be scanned by my firewall.
In the end, no I don't recommend the device. Even if they are "safe" they still come with a modified OS, as I mentioned. Trust in the brand has been tarnished. Was mine "clean" yes, to the extent I was able to check but beyond doing a packet capture and individually inspecting each packet, I feel I was thorough. Shoot even wireshark will not ALARM you to threats, its just packet flows, you almost have to know what you are looking for at that point.
Apologies, without knowing your role or company, it was unfair to suggest you would have access to non-consumer tools. In the large Fortune 100 corporations in finance and tech that I've worked for it is common though.
The response from the label / brand, ACEMAGIC, reads like boilerplate legal defense from the parent, Shenzhen CYX Industrial Co., Ltd. I find it highly likely malware was multilevel, and possibly still present in firmware, so not extremely rare in cases where the "infection" is from the factory by design.
When mentioning an OS reinstall, it is a given that is a full reinstall from Microsoft, not a system restore or factory reset. Neither would be sufficient for this circumstance.
The brand is blacklisted obviously, but the parent will just create a new one, as they have done in the past.
Be wary of all mini PCs sent for review, they all come from a very small number of manufacturers, with quite questionable histories. It's no coincidence you only see their reviews on smaller / newer channels. As a content creator, you're far better off avoiding them for credibility, in my opinion.
Great input. My access to non-consumer tools outside using them directly on-net is the question. The challenge of using other non-consumer tools, many of them require either some installation of a product on the end-device or connection to it via a network, which in both cases I’m not going to do. Licensing also tricky with that kind of stuff, in this case. Also, I am being a bit vague mentioning what exact tools my organization uses only because obscurity purposes. Just being careful.
Yes, and I agree. Now after learning of the potential dangers of mini PCs and like you mentioned they all near funneling from the same place I’m very skeptical as well. The idea is neat but not practical, especially if the process start to finish leaves security questions. Thanks for your detailed input and of course the sub! 🥰