Kaspersky removes itself and installs UltraAV without permission
Kaspersky removes itself and installs UltraAV without permission
Last week, Kaspersky unexpectedly removed its antivirus software from U.S. customers' systems and replaced it with UltraAV, a product from competitor
I'm surprised at how many companies still use a Russian AV. You are relying on this singular piece of software to keep your computer safe, and you pick the Russian one? Particularly when Windows Defender is right there. All you have to do is....not install the Russian AV.
Probably because old habits die hard. Kaspersky used to have a pretty good reputation as far as AV software. In the past, I used TDSSKiller to resurrect many PC's where other antivirus software failed.
Unfortunately, the whole Russia being a malicious actor negates any reasons to continue using Kaspersky.
I used to work for a major research university and they switched to Kaspersky. It baffled me that any foreign AV was permitted, let alone one made in a hostile country.
What companies use Kaspersky?
Isn't this mostly a consumer level issue?
Retail generates the most margin, while enterprise generally the most revenue.
At least, that's how it works at most vendors that operate both B2C and B2B sales and product channels.
But no, Kaspersky is a major legacy player in the B2B security market with both mature and cutting edge products/solutions.
A better question might be, which companies in America were still using Kaspersky up until this month, and why.
My guess that is a mix between budgetary constraints, incompetence, and weighted risk analysis.
Imagine you're a Midwestern ice cream wholesaler, it's been a bad few years, and your 200 Kaspersky licenses were renewed with deep discounts.
You're not likely to lose any contracts for using Kaspersky, nor be a target of state sanctioned espionage, but spending $10,000 between new licensing and man hours, to rip, replace, and configure a new solution, now that could cause real issues for you.
So, between a rock and a hard place, you just wait it out as long as possible and hope that when the other shoe drops, it doesn't wreck your budget.
There are businesses that use it. I work at a small company, under 100 people and we used to use it for about six years... then we switched to Crowdstrike a few years back. And look how that ended up.
No one that knows what an AV is even uses an AV.
Hot take, genuinely hoping that you're not one of those "common sense" people.
I mean, we still use American ones...