Subj : US Kaspersky customers report replacement antivirus forcibly inst
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Tue Sep 24 2024 22:15:05

US Kaspersky customers report replacement antivirus forcibly installed 
following ban

Date:
Tue, 24 Sep 2024 21:07:00 +0000

Description:
Kaspersky customer handover to UltraAV has not started well, as customers 
found the switch was made automatically.

FULL STORY
======================================================================

Kaspersky customers in the US have found their antivirus software has been 
replaced without warning with a new solution called UltraAV. 

The US government recently passed a law banning the sale of Kaspersky 
security software and the subsequent updates for installed software, 
resulting in the companys exit from the US market. 

Customers reported on social media that the update was pushed without the 
ability to accept or decline UltraAV, despite notification emails supposedly 
being sent at least a few weeks prior to the update. Demonstration of 
Kaspersky danger 

The US has long argued Kaspersky software is at risk of being manipulated by 
the Russian government to hand over secrets and control of the computers it 
is installed on, with an initial ban on Kaspersky products from being used 
within federal agencies being followed by a complete commercial sales ban 
from July 20, and finally with a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ban 
on the use of Kaspersky software within telecommunications equipment at the 
beginning of September 2024. 

At around the same time as the FCC ban, Axios reported that Kaspersky had 
offloaded its antivirus customers to the Pango Group, which owns UltraAV. 

Kaspersky confirmed the transition in a post by Vadim M. on the companys 
forum, stating, Kaspersky has additionally partnered with UltraAV to make the 
transition to their product as seamless as possible, which is why on 9/19, 
U.S. Kaspersky antivirus customers received a software update facilitating 
the transition to UltraAV. This update ensured that users would not 
experience a gap in protection upon Kasperskys exit from the market. 

Former National Security Agency director of cybersecurity, Rob Joyce, 
commented on the transition on X (formerly Twitter), saying, This is why 
handing root-level access to Kaspersky was a huge risk.  Users were 
"migrated" - software uninstalled and a totally different product was 
installed automagically.  They had total control of your machine. It is worth 
noting that some antivirus products and anti-cheat software commonly use 
root-level access to scan for harmful files or software used to cheat in 
games. 

 TechRadar Pro reached out to UltraAV to provide additional context on the 
nature of the transition, but the company did not immediately respond. Any 
subsequent updates will be posted here. 

 Via TechCrunch More from TechRadar Pro These are the best firewalls around 
right now Kaspersky security tools hijacked to disable online protection 
systems Take a look at the best business VPN tools on offer



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/us-kaspersky-customers-report-replacement-antivi
rus-forcibly-installed-following-ban


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