Forum discussion

Computer security issues with analysis software

Hello - I wanted to see if others have been having any of the same Windows security issues with a host of public software (Radiance, Window, DAYSIM, Open Studio) that we regularly use for performance analysis.

My IT team has let me know that they see serious security conflicts with THERM, as well as lot of the LBNL software (Radiance, Windows, etc) as well as related and similar software (DAYSIM, Open Studio).  Specifically, these programs are designed to install and write data to segments of the C drive that are prevented by modern malware protection protocols, rather than in accordance with modern security protocols (data written to /users/ program and having some sort of Windows security certificate/protocols).

Our IT people are metaphorically pulling out their hair trying to make these programs work for us.  We've had work- arounds (whitelisting certain folders, install packages that set environment path variables, setting up separate computers not connect to our network), but unfortunately frequent updates and the proliferation of front-end programs that integrate these tools (DIVA, Grasshopper) have made these untenable in the long term.

Out IT team thinks we might be ahead of the curve in our anti-malware protocols, but believes the world is moving this way, so even if you don't have problems today, you will likely in the future.

I wanted to start a dialogue to see who else might see this as an issue.  I've just reach out to LBNL as well to start a dialogue with them.

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Mon, 01/29/2018 - 21:00

As one of the software developers of Ladybug Tools, I definitely hear you.  It’s unfortunately something that is not in the realm that I or others who develop interfaces have control over.  Rather, it's up to NREL and LBL.  If Ladybug could support installations of software in other parts of the hard drive, we would but there are so many parts of Radiance and E+ that fail when there is a white space in the file path, which becomes an issue when you start to change install locations.  I’d say the right place to have a dialog about these things is on the: EnergyPlus Github
OpenStudio Github
Radiance Github
And the THERM Google Forum … and for Daysim, few people seem to be taking care of it these days so I don't know the best course of action here. I can say that the new Honeybee[+] does annual daylight simulations using pure Radiance without DAYSIM and this may be a potential route around the issue.

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