US bans Kaspersky Products Citing "Security Risks"

Do you use Kaspersky products yourself?

  • Total voters
    14
It's probably been a decade since I've used third-party anti-viruses. You don't really need them as long as you don't do anything too stupid right? I've been on just Windows Defender for many many years now and still haven't gotten a single virus/malware. + It's probably just because of the fact that Kaspersky is headquartered in Russia rather than actual concrete evidence that its unsafe.
 
rootyme said:
For me it's completely unexpected.
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Been in the works for two years
At issue is the risk that the Kremlin could use the antivirus software, which has privileged access to a computer's systems, to steal sensitive information from American computers or tamper with them as tensions escalate between Moscow and the West
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Access to the networks of federal contractors and operators of critical U.S. infrastructure such as power grids are seen as particularly concerning
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In 2017, the Department of Homeland Security banned Kaspersky's flagship antivirus product from federal networks, alleging ties to Russian intelligence and noting a Russian law that lets its intelligence agencies compel assistance from Kaspersky and intercept communications transiting Russian networks.
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The perceived threat has taken on greater urgency since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, which Moscow describes as a "special military operation."
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rootyme said:
Should India be worried?
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Not until the government says so
 
Exility said:
It's probably been a decade since I've used third-party anti-viruses. You don't really need them as long as you don't do anything too stupid right? I've been on just Windows Defender for many many years now and still haven't gotten a single virus/malware. + It's probably just because of the fact that Kaspersky is headquartered in Russia rather than actual concrete evidence that its unsafe.
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Many years back, I used to try Kaspersky Antivirus just to cherish the slick UI it had. To see the definition update bar in green go brrrrr. The UI just kept getting better with every release. So yeah, the only reason I used Kaspersky was to enjoy the UI. :p

With uBlock and a little attention towards the web in general, you have almost zero chances of getting any virus/malware from the web, unless there is some crazy hardware based flaw or sth.

And Defender can certainly defend against the malware that can come with shared USB Drives. Agree with you.
 
They're Anti-Russia. So yeah, it was totally expected.
I've been using Kaspersky since almost 2 decades now. No plans to change but if I do I'd go to Bitdefender. They're the only 2 top ones.

Defender is CPU heavy and bad with ransomware and heuristics in my experience. If people feel it's enough then they're entitled to their opinion.
 
rootyme said:
So yeah, the only reason I used Kaspersky was to enjoy the UI. :p
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Haha, likewise! ESET too for that matter IIRC. It really gave a sense of "quality" back then amongst the competitors but it worked really in the heyday of my dangerous ventures.

I've moved from Norton → Kaspersky → Bitdefender → Kaspersky if I'm remembering right and ultimately settled on uBlock + Defender + Malwarebytes combo to work well enough for most of my needs these days.

Anyway, it's been a very long while since I have had to deal with an infected system.
 
rootyme said:
Have only ever seen those pendrive autorun things which were easily detectable and mostly harmless.
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Well, that explains the "why" for the most part in my case*. And the fact that I seldom have to download any risky attachments.

Another reason might be that I've moved to macOS for most of my computing needs, while the PC is mainly for gaming. macOS doesn't get targeted as much as Windows.
 
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