AntiVirus

[Mamvcivm]

Hi, I'm having problems with antivirus on my new QNAP TS-253D-4G. First thing I did when I took delivery was to purchase Mcafee Antivirus - I thought it was the only option for securing my data.

So, everything set up, the NAS is scheduled to power on every evening at 6pm, I also created a scheduled scan every night at 7pm, however, every time the NAS powers up the antivirus scheduled task is disabled. I reenable it and it's disabled the next day...

So, tonight, I try enabling the built in antivirus (within Security Counselor) and set up a scheduled scan of the same folder as Mcafee (which contains approx 150GB of music files) - Mcafee (when it runs) takes approx 6 mins to do the scan, the built in scanner takes about an hour!

So, what am I missing?

[dolbyman]

Antivirus does nothing to secure your data

If your NAS or clients get infected, the file antivirus does nothing to prevent encryption, so external backups are the only thing to save your bacon.

Keep you NAS running and see how long the scan takes, depending on the amount of data on the NAS it could take days (so no more power down for your NAS)

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

DO NOT EXPOSE NAS ONLINE. e.g. on your router (the gateway to the internet), do not port forward. also disable upnp (on both router and on qnap).

uninstall myqnapcloud and cloudlink. If you don't use an app in appcenter, remove it.

Make sure to install malware remover.


If you want extra protection, consider segmenting your network into vlans, to separate your nas and private pc, from less secure devices like iots, guest wifi etc.... (malware can piggy back off those insecure devices and infect the rest of the devices on your network)

also keep regular backups of your important data from your nas e.g. backup to an external storage device, or a 2nd nas used a backup only.

update qts and apps regularly (BUT CHECK FIRST the forum for the firmware threads that discuss whether the new builds have issues or not, BEFORE UPDATING!!)

use a strong password. If complex passwords are hard to keep track of, use a password manager (i recommend keepass). keep in mind password won't protect you from vulnerabilities which is why updating qts is important.

Don't forget to update your router, and the other client devices on your network as well.

And before asking any of this, please use the forum search, this has been mentioned dozens of times already.

Use keywords like "how to secure nas" etc...

You're welcome

[Mamvcivm]

Thanks for the feedback, I did try searching the forum but used key words like mcafee and antivirus.

Looks like I’ll be cancelling my 3 year mcafee subscription. And to think I only replaced my synology NAS because the antivirus was chronically broken. To answer your question, the built in antivirus takes about an hour to scan approx 150mb of music files.

Update from tonight. I enable real-time and scheduled scans in Mcafee and reboot the server, hey presto, the scans are disabled...

[jaysona]

There really is no practical need for the antivirus scan on the NAS. You should be running antivirus on the workstations with real-time file scanning enabled.

The NAS Malware Remover is different than the McAfee antivirus program, it is QNAPs blackbox scanner that scans for QNAP QTS specific malware that QNAP has been made aware of. The Malware Remover should be run on a daily basis.

[rob51i03]

Necro post, but I hope it's useful for anyone who finds their way here wondering if the McAfee Antivirus app is any improvement over the built-in (ClamAV) antivirus: in my experience, it sure is.
I had two daily scans running under ClamAV, which I duplicated today in McAfee after purchasing a license. The run time improvements were huge:

Code: Select all

Scan Job  | # of Files | ClamAV  | McAfee
----------+------------+---------+--------
Share 1   |  160,862   | 17h 40m |  1h 57m
Share 2   |   35,080   |  4h 20m |  0h 19m

Also, McAfee found 3 infected files that ClamAV missed. YMMV, and I have no affiliation with either product. Just my experience.