1. Anydesk Install
2. Anydesk Admin Access Card

For Windows 8.1 and 10, AnyDesk remote printing is integrated directly into the app, and remote printing functionality is enabled as soon as it is installed on both machines. For Windows 7 users, installing separate drivers is quick and simple and only requires admin access. Connect to a computer remotely, be it from the other end of the office or halfway around the world. AnyDesk ensures secure and reliable remote desktop connections for IT. Discover AnyDesk – Your Remote Desktop Software for Windows. Connect the desktop environment of individual Windows client devices and servers via remote access. Enable instant support and live administration through remote control of all connected Windows devices. Take advantage of a smooth remote desktop connection in Windows due to AnyDesk’s breath-taking frame rates, bandwidth.

AnyDesk is a remote desktop application distributed by AnyDesk Software GmbH. The proprietary software program provides platform independent remote access to personal computers and other devices running the host application.^[9] It offers remote control, file transfer, and VPN functionality.

Company[edit]

AnyDesk Software GmbH was founded in 2014 in Stuttgart, Germany and has gone worldwide, with subsidiaries in the US and China.^[10]

In May 2018, AnyDesk secured 6.5 million Euros of funding in a Series A round led by EQT Ventures.^[11][12] Another round of investment in January 2020 brings AnyDesk to over 20 million Dollars of combined funding.^[13]

Software[edit]

AnyDesk uses a proprietary video codec 'DeskRT' that is designed to allow users to experience higher-quality video and sound transmission while reducing the transmitted amount of data to the minimum.^[11]

With its three megabyte total program size, AnyDesk is noted as an especially lightweight application.

Features[edit]

Availability of features is dependent upon the license of the individual user. Some main features include:^[14]

• Remote access for multiple platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, etc.)
• Remote Print
• Unattended access
• Whiteboard
• Auto-Discovery (automatic analysis of local network)
• Chat-Function
• REST-API
• Custom-Clients
• Session protocol
• Individual host-server

Security[edit]

AnyDesk uses TLS-1.2 with authenticated encryption. Every connection between AnyDesk-Clients is secured with AES-256. When a direct network connection can be established, the session is endpoint encrypted and its data is not routed through AnyDesk servers.^[15] Additionally, whitelisting of incoming connections is possible.^[16]

Abuses[edit]

AnyDesk can be optionally installed on computers and smartphones with full administrative permissions, if the user chooses to do so.^[17] It therefore should, like all remote desktop applications, be used with caution as it may result in a remote full access to the device via the internet.

Mobile access fraud[edit]

In February 2019, Reserve Bank of India warned of an emerging digital banking fraud, explicitly mentioning AnyDesk as the attack channel.^[18] The general scam procedure is as follows: fraudsters get victims to download AnyDesk from the Google Play Store on their mobile phone, usually by mimicking the customer service of legitimate companies. Then, the scammers convince the victim to provide the nine-digit access code and to grant certain permissions.^[19] After permissions are obtained and if no other security measures are in place, the scammers usually transfer money using the Indian Unified Payment Interface.^[20] A similar scam took place in 2020 according to Kashmir Cyber police.^[21]

Bundling with ransomware[edit]

In May 2018, the Japanese cybersecurity firm Trend Micro discovered that cybercriminals bundled a new ransomware variant with AnyDesk, possibly as an evasion tactic masking the true purpose of the ransomware while it performs its encryption routine.^[22][23]

Technical support scams[edit]

Scammers have been known to use AnyDesk and similar remote desktop software to obtain full access to the victims' computer by impersonating a technical support person.^[24][25][26] The victim is asked to download and install AnyDesk and provide the attackers with access. When access is obtained, the attackers can control the computer and move personal files and sensitive data.

In 2017, the UK based ISPTalkTalk banned AnyDesk and similar software from all its networks after scammers cold called victims and talked them into giving access to their computer. The software was removed from the blacklist after setting up a scam warning.^[27]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Download AnyDesk for Windows'. AnyDesk. 18 February 2021.
2. ^'Download AnyDesk for macOS'. AnyDesk. 27 January 2021.
3. ^'Download AnyDesk for Linux'. AnyDesk. 28 January 2021.
4. ^'Download AnyDesk for FreeBSD'. AnyDesk. 28 January 2021.
5. ^'Download AnyDesk for Raspberry Pi'. AnyDesk. 28 January 2021.
6. ^'AnyDesk remote PC/Mac control'. GooglePlay. Google. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
7. ^'AnyDesk on the App Store'. App Store. Apple. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
8. ^'Download AnyDesk for Chrome OS'. AnyDesk. 28 July 2020.
9. ^'Innovative and Reliable: Our Features'. AnyDesk. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
10. ^'AnyDesk verspricht PC-Fernsteuerung in Echtzeit'. deutsche-startups.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-08-21.
11. ^ ^ab'AnyDesk scores €6.5M for its remote desktop software – TechCrunch'. techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
12. ^'EQT Ventures' investment in AnyDesk'. eqtventures.com. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
13. ^Partners 2020 (https://www.insightpartners.com/), Insight (2020-01-22). 'Global Software Innovator, AnyDesk, Launches Expansion with Leading Growth Equity Investor, Insight Partners | News & Press'. Insight Partners. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
14. ^'Category:Features - AnyDesk Help Center'. support.anydesk.com. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
15. ^'Security - AnyDesk Help Center'. support.anydesk.de. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
16. ^'Access and Session Requests - AnyDesk Help Center'. AnyDesk Help Center. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
17. ^'Administrator Privileges and Elevation (UAC) - AnyDesk Help Center'. support.anydesk.com. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
18. ^KVN, Rohit (2019-02-18). 'RBI malware warning: Refrain from installing 'AnyDesk' mobile app or else risk losing bank balance'. International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
19. ^'RBI AnyDesk Warning: This app can steal all money from your bank account, never download'. Zee Business. 2019-02-17. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
20. ^'RBI Cautions Against Fraudulent Transactions On UPI Platform'. BloombergQuint. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
21. ^'Cyber Police Kashmir unearths 'AnyDesk' online fraud'. www.daijiworld.com. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
22. ^'Legitimate Application AnyDesk Bundled with New Ransomware Variant - TrendLabs Security Intelligence Blog'. 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
23. ^'WanaCrypt Ransomware – 202 N Van Buren Rd Ste E Eden, NC 27288'. www.microsupportsystems.com. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
24. ^'As social engineering activities increase buyer beware of tech support scams'. Verizon Enterprise Solutions. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
25. ^'How to avoid being a tech support scam victim | thinkbroadband'. www.thinkbroadband.com. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
26. ^'02085258899 - tech support scam (using anydesk.com, teamviewer.com and supremofree.com)'. blog.dynamoo.com. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
27. ^'ISP customer data breach could turn into supercharged tech support scams'. Naked Security. 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2018-08-06.

External links[edit]

• Official website

AnyDesk is a Remote Desktop solution which has become very popular in the last two years. It is overtaking TeamViewer in popularity because AnyDesk is currently a lot more generous with how much activity they allow on the free version. However, it is not always desirable to have remote access software such as AnyDesk running on your network. This article explains a number of measures to block AnyDesk from connecting out to the big wide world.

Ports used by AnyDesk

Like most hosted remote-access applications these days, AnyDesk connects out on ports TCP 80, TCP 443, and also one unique port – TCP 6568.

Anydesk Install

Internally, it uses UDP ports 50001-50003 for multicasting to allow discovery on your local network.

No special outbound rules or port forwarding are required to make AnyDesk work – so long as your network administrator hasn’t followed the below instructions to make life difficult for AnyDesk.

How to Block AnyDesk On Your Network

If you want to block AnyDesk on your network, there are a few measures you can put in place:

1. Create local firewall rules using Windows Firewall to block outgoing connections from AnyDesk.exe
   
2. Block the resolution of DNS records on the anydesk.com domain. If you run your own DNS server (such as an Active Directory server) then this is easy:
   1. Open your DNS Management Console
   2. Create a top-level record for ‘anydesk.com‘
   3. Do nothing else. By pointing this record nowhere you will stop connections to this domain and all of it’s subdomains
      
3. Block anydesk.com in PiHole – this is another way to use DNS blocking to stop AnyDesk from connecting out via your network
   
4. Ensure the only DNS connections allowed on your network are to your own internal DNS servers (which contain the above dummy-record). This removes the possibility of the AnyDesk client checking DNS records against their own servers, instead of yours. To do so, add a new outgoing firewall rule to disallow TCP & UDP port 53 from all source IP addresses, EXCEPT the addresses of your own DNS servers.
   
5. You can utilise Group Policy to deny AnyDesk.exe from running. To do this, create a new Software Restriction Policy with a Hash Rule for AnyDesk.exe.
   
6. If you have a firewall with Deep Packet Exception, you can enable the in-built rules to block AnyDesk. These firewalls often release new definition updates as the situation changes, so a lot of the hard work is handled for you.
   
7. Block outgoing TCP Port 6568. You can create a DENY rule in your firewall to do this.

Anydesk Admin Access Card

AnyDesk does not have any fixed IP addresses – they simply use IPs from cloud providers, and do not publish a list, so blocking IPs will be a game of whack-a-mole. However, these above seven steps should allow you to be successful in blocking AnyDesk from connecting out to the internet.