Is it time to ditch Kaspersky?

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine we have uninstalled our Kaspersky AV packages not because they were unsatisfactory (they have been excellent for the 10 years since we first bought them) but because any AV system opens a back door upon its millions of users. One could hardly think of a better way to wreck the West’s everyday banking systems after cleaning out its contents.

Two years ago the US Government warned its personnel that Kaspersky could pose a security risk. In recent months there have been reports of Russian underwater activity around the landing points of transatlantic internet cables. One senior British officer was reported as saying that cutting such vital links would be regarded as an act of war.

Of course all such allegations and any links with the Russian Government are strenuously denied by Kaspersky. But then Russia has been assuring us that it had no intention of invading Ukraine, and that it is not targeting civilians even as I write.

What do other readers think, apart from the trolls and bots which spring to life whenever such matters are mentioned?

On my windows boxes I’ve used nothing other than the native/built-in windows protection for well over a decade, with no ill effects.

I now use Avast One free -

https://www.avast.com/avast-one#pc

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

On my windows boxes I’ve used nothing other than the native/built-in windows protection for well over a decade, with no ill effects.

My corporate which operates in 192 countries and has hundreds of thousands of staff use the build in MS Defender. With the (additional payment) enterprise management options.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

On my windows boxes I’ve used nothing other than the native/built-in windows protection for well over a decade, with no ill effects.

How can you be so sure that you machine is absolutely clean of any unwanted software?

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-defender-beats...

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

How can you be so sure that you machine is absolutely clean of any unwanted software?

I must admit, I don't 100% trust MS Defender either, no matter what articles say how good it is. I use Malware bytes to scan the machine once a week.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

How can you be so sure that you machine is absolutely clean of any unwanted software?

You can't - but you could apply that argument in every scenario regardless of what security products you were using.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

You can't - but you could apply that argument in every scenario regardless of what security products you were using.

Precisely.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

I must admit, I don't 100% trust MS Defender either, no matter what articles say how good it is. I use Malware bytes to scan the machine once a week.

So do I and it never finds anything which suggests to me that MS Defender works Ok.

Does yours find anything?

Edited by chris52 (Sun 06-Mar-22 11:53:26)

Many experts advise that we should use several AV programmes to catch all the rubbish, I've found that AdAware finds PUP adware that Kaspersky doesn't. I'm still wondering if it is wise to give full access to a company which is based in Russia, a world centre for cyberwarfare.

In reply to a post by Malwaremike:

Many experts advise that we should use several AV programmes to catch all the rubbish, I've found that AdAware finds PUP adware that Kaspersky doesn't. I'm still wondering if it is wise to give full access to a company which is based in Russia, a world centre for cyberwarfare.

You would be surprised that they are not the only country who have a reputation for hacking etc USA and UK Intelligence services do it too, there have been a few exploits that have originated from the likes of the NSA

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

On my windows boxes I’ve used nothing other than the native/built-in windows protection for well over a decade, with no ill effects.

How can you be so sure that you machine is absolutely clean of any unwanted software?

You can’t be certain of anything really, but personally I haven’t found any of the other paid for products to do a dramatically better job. To my mind there’s more downsides than upsides using them. YMMV.

I don’t use anything extra or third party on the Mac’s I run either.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

To my mind there’s more downsides than upsides using them. YMMV.

When smaller third party ("security") companies are trying to replace / override parts of the operating system, this HAS stopped Microsoft patches from installing, and in some cases this wasn't resolved for 6 months. So by using a "security" product, the consumer was less protected than just having Windows Update run automatically every month.

These security companies do not have access to the Windows source code, they do not know better than Microsoft (or Apple).

In my view if you want to run a third party security product, you're better off ditching Windows or MacOS and running Linux.

My view is the free ones are all pretty much the same non are 100% secure so just use the one you prefer and a bit of common sense when it comes to sites you visit.