ESET Web Protection: Privacy Explained

TL;DR

ESET Web Protection is generally privacy-respecting, but it does collect some data about visited websites to improve its threat detection. You can control the level of data shared and review what’s happening in your ESET settings. This guide explains how.

Understanding What Data ESET Collects

ESET Web Protection works by analysing website URLs before you visit them, checking against known threats. To do this effectively, it needs to send some information back to ESET. Here’s a breakdown:

• URLs: The web addresses of the sites you try to access are sent to ESET.
• IP Addresses: Your IP address is also transmitted. This helps ESET understand where threats originate and improve its database.
• Search Queries (Optional): If enabled, your search terms can be sent to ESET for safer searching.
• Telemetry Data: General information about your system and the software’s operation is collected to help with product improvement.

ESET anonymises some of this data and aggregates it to protect individual privacy.

How to Check Your Privacy Settings

You can adjust what information ESET shares through the ESET settings menu. Here’s how:

1. Open ESET: Double-click the ESET icon in your system tray (usually bottom right of your screen).
2. Navigate to Settings: Click on ‘Settings’. The exact location may vary slightly depending on your ESET product version, but look for a cogwheel or ‘Advanced settings’ option.
3. Privacy Section: Find the ‘Privacy’ section within the settings. This is often under ‘Tools’, ‘Advanced settings’, or similar.

Specific Settings to Review

Here are key privacy-related settings you should check:

1. Telemetry:
   • Enable/Disable Telemetry: You can choose whether or not to send general usage data to ESET. Disabling this reduces the amount of information shared, but may slightly impact product improvement efforts.
2. Web Control Reporting:
   • Enable/Disable Detailed Web Activity Logging: This controls whether ESET logs every website you visit locally on your computer. It doesn’t send this data to ESET unless you specifically request it for support purposes.
3. Safe Search (if enabled):
   • Review Search Engine Settings: If you use ESET’s Safe Search feature, check which search engines are sending your queries to ESET and adjust accordingly.

Viewing Collected Data (If Enabled)

If you’ve enabled detailed web activity logging, you can view the collected data locally:

1. Reports: In ESET, go to ‘Reports’.
2. Web Control Reports: Select ‘Web Control’ or similar.
3. Review Logs: You should be able to see a list of visited websites and blocked threats. This data is stored on your computer and isn’t automatically sent to ESET.

Checking Network Traffic (Advanced)

For more technical users, you can monitor network traffic to confirm what data ESET is sending:

1. Use a Network Monitoring Tool: Tools like Wireshark allow you to capture and analyse network packets.
2. Filter Traffic: Filter the captured traffic by ESET’s server addresses (you can find these in the ESET settings or documentation).
3. Inspect Packets: Examine the contents of the packets to see what data is being transmitted.

   wireshark -i eth0 host esetserveraddress

   (Replace ‘eth0’ with your network interface and ‘esetserveraddress’ with ESET’s server address.)

ESET’s Privacy Policy

For the most up-to-date information, always refer to ESET’s official privacy policy on their website: https://www.eset.com/int/legal/privacy-policy/

Conclusion

ESET Web Protection provides a good balance between security and privacy. By understanding the data it collects and adjusting your settings accordingly, you can ensure your privacy is protected while benefiting from its threat detection capabilities.