Kaspersky Lab security software

I read today that both our and American government has discontinued using the software due to security concerns, I use this software, does anyone know if this is a concern, Should I use a different software. FCC says Russia’s Kaspersky Lab is a national security threat

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Welcome to the Community.

Well the US Government ban goes back to 2017 since the company is Russian. But there are Chinese tech companies on the banned list too, notably Huawei.

I personally banned ALL protection programs from my computer system running Windows years ago because of the way they install themselves into the operating system and can, and do, cause problems. Particularly when they detect each other as risks.

I just use the builtin Microsoft defender/security. Free, and updated regularly.

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This is more likely part of the response to the Ukraine response than a demonstrable threat. There is another relevant topic started in 2017 and still active.

The most recent news is

Whether there is substance to the FCC’s determination or simply a policy of ‘inviting’ an adversarial nation’s security product into one’s system seems a bad idea regardless of whether it is or is not a demonstrable security threat. Some may argue anything that helps sustain a hostile government whether directly or indirectly (trade, taxes, etc) has security implications.

A security experts job is to be paranoid about what might be in addition to what is, if that makes a point. Some of the best tested most popular AV’s come from Eastern Europe.

There is some anecdotal evidence users who do not frequent dangerous web sites and avoid opening unknown email attachments are more than well served by the Microsoft Defender in Windows.

For full circle, Kaspersky’s media release in response is

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Thank you. Anneke

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