Guardio.io

I was going through my email when I came across one from one of my credit cards. It advised my to use Guardio to secure my browser. So, I clicked the link and added the extension to my browser. Then, Guardio told me to run a scan. I ran it.

At this point, Guardio said that I had visited harmful sites and had information leaks. So, of course, I clicked continue. Guardio said that I had 2 Harmful Sites, 1 Information Leak, High Risk Harmful Apps but no Unwanted Popups or System Health issues. Naturally, they had the High risk items in red.

So, of course, I expanded the high risk items. It listed two sites and the date of the 7th. There are a couple of problems with this. I use Bitdefender Total Security which I swear by. Bitdefender listed eight attacks on the 5th, none on the 7th. None of the attacks were these URLs. There were 5 attempts within seconds from one URL and two attempts from another but not the ones Guardio stated. Guardio was unaware of the genuine hacking attempts.

I, then, searched my history. Yes, those two sites were in my history. I clicked on them and they were blank. Maybe Bitdefender stopped them but I don't think so because Bitdefender always notifies me when it does so and it didn't notify me of these.

Next, I expanded High Risk Information leaks. There were a couple of problems with these as this well. It stated that Canva suffered a data breach 5/23/2019. First, how would Guardio know if I was involved in that breach. I don't keep my email addresses, passwords or any personal information in my browser. I learned that this was a bad idea when scammers stole my email address and passwords, sent themselves a lot of money from my credit union account and verified themselves through my email. Of course, this may not have been a browser issue because Google stores our passwords online when we save them in the browser. I have wondered if this came from my stored password on Google.

Then, Guardio did not list other security breaches. I have Mastercard ID Protection. It is free for anyone with any type of Mastercard, not just credit cards but debit cards including PayPal. I went to my Mastercard ID Protection and logged in. It showed me 14 breaches with different types of information including my name, address, email addresses and passwords. Canva was one of the breaches MC ID listed. But that means that Guardio missed 13 other breaches. So, they actually don't have a clue.

Finally, I went to the Harmful Apps that Guardio had check marked in red. This stated "No threats of this type were found during the checkup." So, that was just an attempt to cause me to fear for the safety of my laptop.

They don't even tell you after the checkup that they offer a free version. They only tell you that you can have a 7 day trial. If you go directly to their website, you will find that they do offer a free version.

To me, everything that they stated showed me that they had no idea but were going to try to influence me to buy their product even though it didn't do a thing. They are a scam.

Bitdefender Total Security is the real deal. I bought mine at Amazon for $20 and it covers everything. I even click questionable emails to find out if they are phishing attempts because Bitdefender stops me from going to the sites then notifies me.

Additionally, Guardio isn't a Russian or Chinese company. They are Israeli. But an Israeli company made an app with spyware in an attempt to hack smartphones "belonging to journalists, government officials and human rights activists around the world" in 2018 (Reuters). Companies don't care about information about these types of people. Governments do. Is this another attempt or just a startup company that lies to people to try to make a lot of money from unsuspecting consumers?

Something is wrong with Guardio. I advise everyone who has it to remove it and anyone who is thinking about adding this extension not to do so.