More and more countries are recommending the abandonment of Kaskersky antivirus software, when they are not banning it outright for certain institutions. Two local cybersecurity experts advise Quebecers to do the same.
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The Russian Eugene Kaspersky co-founded the software that bears his name in 1997. The company, which has become a reference in the field of cybersecurity, has offices in around thirty countries.
For at least 10 years Eugene Kaspersky has denied having special relations with the Kremlin.
“It’s always been a bit shady around Kaspersky because of the Putin connections. For regarding two years federal government agencies in the United States can no longer use Kaspersky. We have aligned ourselves on this and we no longer offer it”, explains Simon Fontaine, CEO of ARS Solutions.
“It’s a good antivirus and the company provides service. Is it just a boycott (by US agencies)? I do not know. But many articles (by cybersecurity analysts) raised doubts,” he adds.
Pressures
In the current context Éric Parent, CEO of Logicnet and EVA Technologies, also believes that Internet users should choose another solution.
“I would say the same of an American antivirus if Canada was at war with the United States,” he says.
In an autocratic regime like Russia, where Vladimir Putin imprisons his opponents when he doesn’t have them murdered, he believes that pressure on Russian developers can trickle down to their family members.
“Kaspersky doesn’t get bad overnight. But there are daily updates on such software. He might be influenced not to detect a new attack for a number of days and it would go unnoticed. An antivirus is not perfect,” he notes.
Mr. Parent adds a cold analysis on the conditions in which the Russians currently work and which might have an impact on the product.
“Are they going to be able to maintain the level of quality to which they have accustomed us in a context of war? And impartiality? I’m not convinced,” he said.
Solutions
Mr. Fontaine recommends for customers who can afford it SentinelOne, a “smart” antivirus, or, more affordable solution, BitDefender.
Believing that other antiviruses are equally effective, he thinks that the rigor in the use of his antivirus often makes the difference.
“An antivirus may stop working, for example, due to a Windows update. We must ensure that it is always functional. Viruses are like COVID. There are new versions regularly. But when a cyberattack hits, it’s more Ebola,” he says.
First problems
The decision to ban Kaspersky from US federal agencies was put in place in 2017. They had until 2019 to comply.
Incidentally, it was endorsed by then-President Donald Trump, who was quite close to his counterpart Vladimir Putin.
In 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that hackers working for the Russian government used Kaspersky software to steal classified information from an NSA computer.
Eugene Kaspersky later said the data was uploaded as a sample of potential malware for analysis.
Some Kaspersky methods have also been denounced. For example, Archyde.com reported a 2009 email from Eugene Kaspersky in which he encouraged colleagues to attack rival AVG by repeating a quote Putin had uttered years earlier in his hunt for Chechen opponents.
Archyde.com added in 2015 that according to two former employees, Kaspersky tried to harm Microsoft, AVG and Avast by tricking these antiviruses into classifying files as not malicious.
Fears everywhere
On March 15, Germany recommended replacing all anti-virus from this company. She believes that Kaspersky might be spied on by the Russian government or used to attack its customers.
In France, the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems had expressed in early March the same fears mentioned by Éric Parent regarding the possible absence of updates in a context of war.
Italy, for its part, has launched an investigation, in particular because of fears expressed by its cybersecurity agency.
Years before the invasion of Ukraine, countries like Hungary, Lithuania, and the Netherlands banned the use of Kaspersky in their government institutions.
In addition, AFP recently recalled that the Russian internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, had asked the main VPN providers in 2019 to connect to the Russian state’s central information system.
The VPN allows a user to browse without being identified. Only Kaspersky then complied with the regulator’s request.
