Is Kaspersky Anti-Virus Spying for Russia? - Comments Page 2

I use Kaspersky for the same reasons stated above, consistent high marks in independent tests and reasonable pricing. Since the charges against them are certainly political in nature, I see no way around using political comments in this post. That said I have no more reason to believe Russia wants my browsing data than the USA does and really if I was to guess I would say it is more likely that the US was looking over my shoulder than Russia, for practical reasons alone- why would Russia care what a retired schmuck in the boonies does on the internet?

If in fact there is a need to switch from Kaspersky to another antivirus service, would you recommend PCMatic? It is, after all, made in the USA.

I thought about this a long time ago and decided that I would not buy Kaspersky because I was concerned about the Russian botnets. And, since I had no means to verify that is was 'clean', why should I take a chance? Same thing applied to McAfee. I did not care for the owner.

Why Worry? Our president has already disclosed secure information with the Russians.

I may trust Kaspersky. But I certainly do not trust Putin. And I do not believe that anyone in Russia can defy Putin and continue to exist as they were, if at all. If Putin demands something of Kaspersky, what will Kaspersky do?

Who should I believe? How many foreign governments did the CIA, FBI, and NSA under Obama spy on? How many cell phones of foreign leaders did the CIA, FBI, and NSA hack into?

How many US citizens and US corporations were spied on under Obama?

Truth is under Obama US Citizens and corporations were routinely spied on, so should we not buy anything made in the USA.

Maybe its just a matter of semantics, but the quoted Kaspersky statement has a 'Trumpian' ring to it. For example,
"...Kaspersky Lab believes it is completely unacceptable that the company is being unjustly accused without any hard evidence to back up these false allegations..." Hmmm, exactly what kind of 'hard evidence' Could be used to back up FALSE allegations? M' thinks that B. Franklin was onto to something with his notion that 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure'.

To err on the side of caution is no sin.

Great article Bob. We've known about Kaspersky for years now. It has long standing affiliations with Russian intelligence. That doesn't mean they don't make great software though. Thanks for another thought provoking read.

The fact that Kaspersky is prepared to supply the source code for analysis by the US multitude of Govt. security agencies suggests to me that what some see as a 'no smoke without fire' situation may actually be seeing the result of anther Trump brain fart. I would trust Kaspersky AV more than any currently USA home grown AV product when it comes to potentially containing govt. security hooks.

The mafia would promise protection for a price. Then if a business wouldn't pay something would happen to it. If they paid nothing happened. Maybe Kaspersky works well because it is removing problems it knows about....

Remember American History. There was once an American President who headed off America descending in to paranoia by stating a truism. "The only thing Americans have to be afraid of is Fear itself." And World history has shown that when Politicians use fear as a political tool that it never ends well. ie. Germany in the 1930-40's.

Well if it's politicians that don't trust Kaspersky, then I think the company is nothing to worry about. I'd be more worried if the politicians recommended it. Just 'cause you can get elected don't mean you know anythin' about 'puters.

Oh hum, excuse me while I go take a healthy!

@Nancy Teppler-- The maxim, "Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear" is a call for skepticism of even accepted truths and reputation. Such a rule easily could be applied to apparently benign corporations and individuals.

Likewise, the problem with demanding "proof" in a world filled with intelligence-gathering and other security exploits is proof heavily depends on level of information and context. All too often, the evidence is not publishable.

In any case, the position taken by intelligence officials on Kaspersky is similar to their positions on a number of PRC-related matters-- it is an assessment of risk, not necessarily a proof that can, or should be debated publicly.

I can see the cause for concern. In Russia, no company can realistically be expected to operate free of goverment control or interference. If authorities in Russia want to use Kaspersky's product to gain access to various computer systems in other countries, it's reasonable to expect that they could do so. In my opinion, the risk is too great to take on any system that contains sensitive information. Call it paranoia if you want. I call it erring on the side of caution. Welcome to reality people.

Wow! Five days to run a scan by Kaspersky as one commenter stated. Surely that is some kind of miscommunication between the poster and K.? Hard to believe ANY scan could run that long, but then I'm only an amateur when it comes to computer technology.

I would rather trust American products.
I am using Window Defender for my Window 7.

Considering recent revelations about the USA intelligence service, I would be hesitant to use security software from the US or Russia.

In a post-Snowden world I'm not inclined to trust anybody (from *any* nation) in the digital world (the USA very much included)... But leaving the doors wide open is not really an option; we need some protection. I remain a skeptic, but this rumour sounds like "fake news", to me, born of prejudice. I work on the premise that the big AV companies, with their reputations to maintain, stand to lose more if they cheat.

Kaspersky has been around for 20 years, if they are spying on users then wouldn't someone have noticed that and said something earlier?

Is there proof of spying or is this another round of paranoia?

I doubt they would risk losing their business over something so foolish.