Can we trust Kaspersky?

Over many years I have been well satisfied with Kaspersky IS, but this year's events and drastic action by the US Government are causing me concern. Our many jokes about Kaspersky being a cunning Russian plot to subvert our entire computer systems are no longer funny as the extent of Russian election involvement becomes clearer.

KIS works away non-stop, reporting back to base. I don't believe there are Reds under my bed, but what does the forum think?

Who can you trust?

Kaspersky - Russia
BitDefender - Romania
Eset Nod32 - Slovakia
F-Secure - Finland
Norton - USA
Panda - Spain
Trend Micro - Japan / USA
Webroot - USA
McAfee - USA
Avast - Czechia (Czech Republic)


Who benefits from Kaspersky's sales going down? Any of the competitors (presumably including makers of free AV/Sec software, e.g. Microsoft Security Essentials).

Who benefits from Kaspersky being dragged through the media and being linked to the Russian security services? Anyone looking to create a new cold war (including some in Russia, arguably).

How many non-Kaspersky protected computers have been compromised over the years, by sophisticated methods?

Can we trust the government that controls the home of Microsoft? Can we trust the Internet, the child of ARPANET / ARPA?


It makes the most sense to judge products on their quality and price, rather than worry about their country of origin (short of installing a spam filter made in Nigeria ). I used Kaspersky for a time, but got annoyed at some of the features that wouldn't work with the browser I used. Binned it (and the browser, as it happens).

Would I trust a UK product? Nope. There's no 'trust' as such, but rather an acceptance that some level of security has to be maintained, and it comes down to reputation, functionality and price.

Do I trust the US media / Israeli Intelligence on a Russian product? Nope. Do I trust RT News? Nope.

Trust no one.

Worth reading this

https://eugene.kaspersky.com/2017/10/05/we-aggressiv...

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

I don't believe there are Reds under my bed

My birth certificate says, "citizen of USSR", except its cover is green, not red. I'm not under your bed either
I use Kaspersky too, and I'm not worried: I don't work for US Government and don't handle any classified information. Do you? If not, why are you worried? Clearly, that was a targeted attack and they won't be stealing everything from everyone.