Users of Kaspersky antivirus software in the United States have noticed that their software has deleted itself. The program has been replaced by a lesser-known ‘UltraAV’ product.
The reason for the replacement lies in the recent ban on Kaspersky in the United States. The government there blacklisted the originally Russian security provider this summer. New Kaspersky antivirus may no longer be sold there, and from the end of this month the company may no longer implement updates, something that is quite important for a security program.
As a solution, Kaspersky decided to migrate its American users to UltraAV, an American provider of security products. On Windows, this happened automatically this week and without much further announcement. Users started their PCs and noticed that Kaspersky antivirus had been removed and replaced. Users on Apple and Android will have to download the new software automatically.
The switch is particularly notable because UltraAV is a relatively unknown security company. While Kaspersky (despite recent accusations) has had a worldwide reputation for years for pretty solid protection against malware and viruses, UltraAV is a seemingly very small company from Boston that is now suddenly gaining a whole bunch of customers. So the question is whether those customers will benefit from security.
