Keef in answer to your questions………
What I was told by Microsoft Research was that they are formally aware that there is a definite conflict between Rapport and Internet Explorer 8. (anyone with IE7 and then upgrades to IE8 will have a problem). How much other information has been passed between Trusteer and Microsoft, I do not know. I certainly do get the impression that there is not much. Even Microsoft asked me for a copy of the Trusteer Rapport Removal Tool. This I sent to them.
Certainly there was a very distinct reluctance on the part of Trusteer to discuss anything with me, which considering it is a Security program is understandable. It was just that there was absolutely no discussion on their part. All that I was told was that should I require any assistance, I had to go through some convoluted method of extracting some encrypted ‘log files’ still remaining on my computer (even after using the Add/Remove Program utility from Control Panel had been used to remove the program). If I sent these to them they would advise me as to what changes I needed to make to my computer to ensure that their program worked. In other words,
I had to change my computer to work their program, not that they should have a program that should work with most computers. In my opinion, a definite case of the ‘tail wagging the dog’.
In a similar manner, there is a known conflict between Rapport and Kaspersky. (The Internet Security program that I use). The solution provided by Trusteer is as follows:
Kaspersky IS2009 will detect Rapport as a keylogger, and we provide these instructions on how to configure Kaspersky IS2009 for use with Rapport:- Kaspersky IS 2009 | Trusteer This ends with the following statement:
“Now you can try clicking the last check box. If this does not stop the messages, you can disable the "Keylogger Detection". This will completely disable Kaspersky's keylogger detection. However, please remember that Rapport protects you from keyloggers on protected web sites.”
Remember that these protected web sites being the list of sites that
you have to manually provide and if you go to any other site that you have not provided you are therefore unprotected. Not a very good security function in my opinion.
What I was able to find out about Rapport was the following:
Rapport uses three layers to create the secure pipe inside the user’s desktop computer:
* The API Blocking Layer controls hundreds of operating system API calls and prevents malware from using these calls to access or tamper with the communication.
* The Data Encryption Layer encrypts sensitive information from the keyboard all the way to the network, and hides it from malware.
* The Delivery Confirmation Layer strongly identifies the Website that the user currently interacts with, and prevents the submission of sensitive information to fraudulent Websites.
It was for these reasons I did not complete the initial installation of Trusteer Rapport on my computer in the first instance. Personally I think that I will carry on just using Kaspersky, to disable keylogger detection, I do not know Trusteer enough to go for it. I read a report that casts a bad light on banks confusing customers with security products. If Kaspersky is offered by some banks that is really good enough to use as an argument. The potential conflicts with this software I think far outway its usefulness. Kaspersky has good detection ratings and a product that points the blame at other software (as Rapport does) as causing it to slow your PC makes me somewhat wary. I would say make your own decision, just remember there is no such thing as a magic bullet in the security world, and this is probably the case here as well.
VB