Meanwhile: some skullduggery afoot
Starting Thursday, Kaspersky deleted its anti-malware software from computers across the United States and replaced it with UltraAV's antivirus solution without warning.
UltraAV force-installed on Kaspersky users' PCs
According to many online customer reports
including BleepingComputer's forums
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/801324/kaspersky-deleted-itself-and-installed-ultraav/
UltraAV's software was installed on their computers without any prior notification
"If you are a paying Kaspersky customer, when the transition is complete UltraAV protection will be active on your device and you will be able to leverage all of the additional premium features," UltraAV says on its official website on a page dedicated to this forced transition from Kaspersky's software
https://ultrasecureav.com/kl-transition
A Kaspersky employee also shared an official statement on the company's official forums regarding the forced switch to UltraAV
/nosanitize
@ecksmc skullduggery is such a good word.
@ecksmc I used to use Kaspersky due to its top notch reputation, but deleted it after the successful 2016 Russian actions to control the US election. I knew the company would be unable to resist Kremlin demands to weaponize its installed base.
Maybe Kaspersky is in fact honorable, and having received such demands has instead jettisoned its entire base. I wonder if Eugene Kaspersky will seek asylum, fall out a window, or drink Novichok.
@walterbays speaking on individuals, cybersecurity folks, who worked within the company around their many offices in other countries they individuals were/are highly respected
That said the company itself has always been questionable, with some, and that reputation has only got worse
with many concerned that their devices had been infected with malware.
To make things worse, while some users could uninstall UltraAV using the software’s uninstaller, those who tried removing it using uninstall apps saw it reinstalled after a reboot, causing further concerns about a potential malware infection.
Some also found UltraVPN installed, likely because they had a Kaspersky VPN subscription.
https://www.reddit.com/r/antivirus/comments/1fkgum8/so_i_had_kaspersky_now_i_got_ultraav_because_of/lnw05bp/