Government employees are still using Kaspersky despite the ban

Date:
Thu, 19 Dec 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Description:
Workers are trusting Kaspersky products despite a Government ban.

FULL STORY

Kaspersky was banned in the US in September this year, but that hasnt stopped workers from multiple government agencies from continuing to use Kaspersky products. New research from Bitsight has revealed that the Russia-based antivirus firm still has a surprising number of customers within the US government.

It's been nearly 3 months since Kaspersky products were banned from use in
the US after national security concerns rose surrounding the Russian firm, despite consistent denials of any Kremlin influence from the organisation. However, research shows that 40% of government agencies are still using Kaspersky products.

In fact, so many users are still active that the US remains the firms largest customer, with 19 government agencies actively using the software. Kaspersky
is no longer allowed to sell or update its antivirus software in the US, but this has only led to a 58% decline in the use of the products.

Unacceptable national security risk

Elsewhere, in countries like the UK, Italy, and Germany, warnings have been issued against the products, but no outright bans have been put in place. Despite this, Germany has seen a 69% decline in usage, so this has been arguably more effective.

Many Kaspersky customers had their antivirus products forcibly replaced with partner software UltraAV, meaning there has been a significant global
decline in the use of the firm's software since the ban.

This isnt the first time Kaspersky software has been found in use after the
ban took effect, with some users reporting that they werent concerned about data theft and were unwilling to blindly trust the US government on this
issue, with others simply unwilling to waste the money they had already
spent.

If the trend continues, it looks likely that Kaspersky products will be virtually out of use in the future, but it may take a few months.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/government-employees-are-still-using-ka spersky-despite-the-ban

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Kaspersky was banned in the US in September this year, but that hasnt stopped workers from multiple government agencies from continuing to use Kaspersky products. New research from Bitsight has revealed that the Russia-based antivirus firm still has a surprising number of customers within the US government.

I ran Kaspersky for many years, I always found their products to be reliable, trustworthy for my needs.
In addition it behaved and looked like a premium product.

I knew of the concern that the U.S. Government had, apparently those similar concerns have existed within other countries.
more at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspersky_and_the_Russian_government

I did NOT have the opportunity to keep it.
- Strange that other Gov. sys were allowed to keep it.
- Mine was removed automatically. My system is not Gov. owned.
- a new unheard and therefore untrusted product was installed UltraAV.

I thought this level of CONTROL was more than a bit much.
It was kinda upsetting and disturbing to realize what just happened.

Never before has a program been removed from my computer.
* Without my knowledge.

Never before has a program been installed as a replacement.
* Without my knowledge.

What?

UltraAV was removed and I went with Bitdefender which performed better (more accuracy than Norton.)

... Still waitng for that Coffee :)

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I did NOT have the opportunity to keep it.
- Strange that other Gov. sys were allowed to keep it.
- Mine was removed automatically. My system is not Gov. owned.
- a new unheard and therefore untrusted product was installed UltraAV.

I thought this level of CONTROL was more than a bit much.
It was kinda upsetting and disturbing to realize what just happened.

Never before has a program been removed from my computer.
* Without my knowledge.

Never before has a program been installed as a replacement.
* Without my knowledge.

What?

That is *really* weird. This was on your personal machine? I wonder if Microsoft, via Windows Update, somehow forced the change? I wouldn't think that was legal. :(

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