US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

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heartwood
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US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by heartwood »

Anyone using Kaspersky? Might want to change. Looks like Best Buy dropped them last wek.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/us/p ... nment.html
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sunny_socal
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

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I use AVG Free on my Mac. Never a single virus in ~5years. Prior to that I had Windows and every virus protection under the sun. The machine was still infected every so often. I highly recommend running a Mac.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by TheGreyingDuke »

sunny_socal wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:45 pm I use AVG Free on my Mac. Never a single virus in ~5years. Prior to that I had Windows and every virus protection under the sun. The machine was still infected every so often. I highly recommend running a Mac.
22 years using Windows, never a single virus, I have used a variety of free programs, I highly recommend it :happy
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

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In 2016, I bought a laptop so that I could communicate with family when on an overseas trip. The laptop was a Lenovo and Kaspersky was the protective firewall and anti-virus software. I suppose everything I did got transmitted to the Chinese via a secret chip imbedded in the motherboard and the Russians knew everything because of the Kaspersky software. Oh well. Don't do anything secret on that laptop. Kind of fun thinking about spy vs. spy and measure vs. countermeasure. But seriously, the US Government should not buy software from Kaspersky nor computers from Lenovo.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by nedsaid »

I hope Victoria sees this thread and posts. She is a cyber security expert and from Russia. Her comments would be very interesting.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by TheGreyingDuke »

nedsaid wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:49 pm In 2016, I bought a laptop so that I could communicate with family when on an overseas trip. The laptop was a Lenovo and Kaspersky was the protective firewall and anti-virus software. I suppose everything I did got transmitted to the Chinese via a secret chip imbedded in the motherboard and the Russians knew everything because of the Kaspersky software. Oh well. Don't do anything secret on that laptop. Kind of fun thinking about spy vs. spy and measure vs. countermeasure. But seriously, the US Government should not buy software from Kaspersky nor computers from Lenovo.
And all my virus free laptops have been ThinkPads, originally an IBM. later a Lenovo. Oh, I also spent 6 months each year from 2006-2016 in China; some of my work could be considered "sensitive" (what isn't in China?) but still no sneak attacks. Of course, they had copies of every email I sent but that moves beyond the question of a secure operating system.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by nedsaid »

TheGreyingDuke wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 8:17 pm
nedsaid wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:49 pm In 2016, I bought a laptop so that I could communicate with family when on an overseas trip. The laptop was a Lenovo and Kaspersky was the protective firewall and anti-virus software. I suppose everything I did got transmitted to the Chinese via a secret chip imbedded in the motherboard and the Russians knew everything because of the Kaspersky software. Oh well. Don't do anything secret on that laptop. Kind of fun thinking about spy vs. spy and measure vs. countermeasure. But seriously, the US Government should not buy software from Kaspersky nor computers from Lenovo.
And all my virus free laptops have been ThinkPads, originally an IBM. later a Lenovo. Oh, I also spent 6 months each year from 2006-2016 in China; some of my work could be considered "sensitive" (what isn't in China?) but still no sneak attacks. Of course, they had copies of every email I sent but that moves beyond the question of a secure operating system.
In a totalitarian country like China, I would expect everything I do to be monitored, particularly if I was working over there. Tourists probably get monitored to some extent but the real effort would be in stealing intellectual property from foreigners working there.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by VictoriaF »

nedsaid wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:52 pm I hope Victoria sees this thread and posts. She is a cyber security expert and from Russia. Her comments would be very interesting.
Hi Ned,

I have left the USSR before it broke into separate countries and don't have first-hand experience with the Russian government. The old Soviet cultures of intelligence and law enforcement seem to remain in Russia, and so a cyber security company based in Russia should be suspect. I don't have personal experience with Kaspersky and have been assuming that they had been thoroughly checked. The prohibition to use Kaspersky could be because (a) my assumption was wrong and they were "trusted and not verified", (b) some new evidence has surfaced, (c) it's a political move.

By they way, I recently learned that AVG, Avast and ESET are all based in the Czech Republic. [OT comment removed by admin LadyGeek]
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by squirm »

sunny_socal wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:45 pm I use AVG Free on my Mac. Never a single virus in ~5years. Prior to that I had Windows and every virus protection under the sun. The machine was still infected every so often. I highly recommend running a Mac.
Haven't had a virus on my Windows machines in years.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

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-removed-
Last edited by Jeff Albertson on Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by stlutz »

The Microsoft solution with Windows 10 is the way to go in my opinion. The third party options all all so obtrusive and can often be virus-like in their own behavior.

Like others, I've never had a virus on a Windows computer. Perhaps a sign I spend too much time on Bogleheads and not enough on other sites?
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by Wakefield1 »

nedsaid wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:49 pm In 2016, I bought a laptop so that I could communicate with family when on an overseas trip. The laptop was a Lenovo and Kaspersky was the protective firewall and anti-virus software. I suppose everything I did got transmitted to the Chinese via a secret chip imbedded in the motherboard and the Russians knew everything because of the Kaspersky software. Oh well. Don't do anything secret on that laptop. Kind of fun thinking about spy vs. spy and measure vs. countermeasure. But seriously, the US Government should not buy software from Kaspersky nor computers from Lenovo.
Perhaps the USA Government should have a policy of only buying software and computer hardware from American sources-I don't think Russia is as bad as it is being made out to be-but I wouldn't want to be dependent on other countries for certain things such as military equipment and materials for making military equipment -is it even possible to buy computer hardware that doesn't contain Chinese logic or memory circuits?
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by VictoriaF »

Wakefield1 wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:11 pm
nedsaid wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:49 pm In 2016, I bought a laptop so that I could communicate with family when on an overseas trip. The laptop was a Lenovo and Kaspersky was the protective firewall and anti-virus software. I suppose everything I did got transmitted to the Chinese via a secret chip imbedded in the motherboard and the Russians knew everything because of the Kaspersky software. Oh well. Don't do anything secret on that laptop. Kind of fun thinking about spy vs. spy and measure vs. countermeasure. But seriously, the US Government should not buy software from Kaspersky nor computers from Lenovo.
Perhaps the USA Government should have a policy of only buying software and computer hardware from American sources-I don't think Russia is as bad as it is being made out to be-but I wouldn't want to be dependent on other countries for certain things such as military equipment and materials for making military equipment -is it even possible to buy computer hardware that doesn't contain Chinese logic or memory circuits?
The U.S. Government refers to this problem as Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM). For obvious reasons, specific SCRM risks are classified. Authoritative public sources include NIST Special Publication 800-161, "Supply Chain Risk Management Practices for Federal Information Systems and Organizations" http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Specia ... 00-161.pdf and GAO report "DOD Supply Chain Management" http://www.gao.gov/highrisk/dod_supply_ ... _did_study .

SCRM is an extensive and expensive effort.

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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by jebmke »

The best defense IMO is good computer "hygiene." Avoid dodgy web sites, emails etc. and/or use isolation (virtual machine or dual booting) to confine risky computing activities to a space where the consequences are low. I do most of my searching in a Linux virtual machine.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by jlcnuke »

I haven't used anything but the built-in windows defender in years without any issue. I've read a few articles saying that many security pros say that it's as good as installing other software so I stopped using the other stuff.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by beardsworth »

VictoriaF wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 8:21 pm
By they way, I recently learned that AVG, Avast and ESET are all based in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is full of Russians.
Kaspersky was formerly the preferred product at my wife's employer, which also had some sort of bulk license and made the software available, free of charge, to employees and their families for use on home computers as well as work computers. In view of what has been in the news during the past several years, I was always slightly uneasy using a Russian-based antivirus product, but it was free (at least financially), and her employer actually required its installation on any personal computer connecting to the employer's own systems.

Then the employer dropped Kaspersky, apparently not because of recent news involving that company, but because the license had expired. Now they don't have have a "preferred" antivirus product but are just telling employees to get whatever they choose from a list reviewed by an outside testing organization.

That has proven more difficult than we expected. Avast and AVG are Czech. ESET, according to my online research, is Slovakian (not Czech, as Victoria notes, but I don't know which is correct). Avira is German. Sophos is British and (being free) seems to involve getting lots of advertising, tracking, whatever. Bitdefender gets superb reviews for Mac users but is based in Romania.

As far as I can tell, the U.S.-based products for Mac users are Webroot, McAfee, Intego, and Symantec/Norton, but all of them seem to be more expensive and/or rated less effective than the best of the non-U.S. products listed above.

We don't necessarily accept the argument that Mac users don't need protection, but we also don't know what to choose now.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by lthenderson »

sunny_socal wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:45 pm I use AVG Free on my Mac. Never a single virus in ~5years. Prior to that I had Windows and every virus protection under the sun. The machine was still infected every so often. I highly recommend running a Mac.
You should probably check out this article:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing ... t-viruses/
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by VictoriaF »

beardsworth wrote: Thu Sep 14, 2017 9:32 am
VictoriaF wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 8:21 pm By they way, I recently learned that AVG, Avast and ESET are all based in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is full of Russians.
Avast and AVG are Czech. ESET, according to my online research, is Slovakian (not Czech, as Victoria notes, but I don't know which is correct).
I was told about these companies being Czech by a Czech friend. I checked Avast and it was Czech. I did not do a comprehensive fact-checking at the time, but after reading your message I did. According to Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESET , ESET is headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia. And so you are right. ESET was founded in 1992, a year before Czechia and Slovakia split into different countries, and that could be a reason for my friend thinking that ESET is Czech.

There are many Russians in Slovakia, too.

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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

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Malwarebytes is located in Santa Clara, California.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by azurekep »

I've been mildly interested in ReactOS, an open-source project designed to replicate a WindowsNT-type operating system.

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=reactos

Unfortunately, the project is run by Russians. It's unfortunate that we now have a blanket distrust of anything Russian, especially when it comes to software.

I'll still follow the project with interest though. Though not with the thought of ever using it (not that I ever planned to -- I just liked the ambition and motivation behind the project).

In the meantime, I use Linux for home computing and am grateful for the people willing to work on creating and maintaining a safe, free operating system, open to review by anyone.

On Windows machines, I don't worry so much about viruses, since they don't seem to exist anymore. The bigger worry is trojans, rootkits and ransomware.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

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beardsworth wrote: Thu Sep 14, 2017 9:32 am As far as I can tell, the U.S.-based products for Mac users are Webroot, McAfee, Intego, and Symantec/Norton, but all of them seem to be more expensive and/or rated less effective than the best of the non-U.S. products listed above.
Just FYI, your ISP may provide free anti-virus software. When I had U-Verse a few years a they had McAfee for free. I an using Comcast now and they have Norton for free.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by Dan-in-Virginia »

I respect those employees at Kaspersky who are genuinely working to stop malware and ensure the protection of all. I used Kaspersky in the early 2000s without any issues.

The problem is that Russia is not a free society. It is controlled by Putin, and if the FSB asks Kaspersky to permit attack vectors known only to the Russian government, and to stay silent, if you're Kaspersky, you'll do just that. I'm not saying that that has happened, but it can happen, and that's what the U.S. is ensuring cannot happen with regard to Federal IT systems.

I wouldn't be surprised if the urgency behind DHS binding operational directive 17-01 to remove Kaspersky products was based on evidence, not purely a political or proactive/defensive move.

There is a bit of a tit-for-tat going on, and this may be part proactive and reactive.
Last edited by Dan-in-Virginia on Thu Sep 14, 2017 2:11 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by VictoriaF »

Gray wrote: Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:59 pm I respect those employees at Kaspersky who are genuinely working to stop malware and ensure the protection of all. I used Kaspersky in the early 2000s without any issues.

The problem is that Russia is not a free society. It is controlled by Putin, and if the FSB asks Kaspersky to permit attack vectors known only to the Russian government, and to stay silent, if you're Kaspersky, you'll do just that. I'm not saying that that has happened, but it can happen, and that's what the U.S. is recognizing.

I wouldn't be surprised if the urgency behind DHS binding operational directive 17-01 to remove Kaspersky products was based on evidence, not purely a political or proactive defensive move.

There is a bit of a tit-for-tat going on, and this may be part proactive and reactive.
This is a very good assessment. Thanks,

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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by nedsaid »

Wakefield1 wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:11 pm
nedsaid wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 7:49 pm In 2016, I bought a laptop so that I could communicate with family when on an overseas trip. The laptop was a Lenovo and Kaspersky was the protective firewall and anti-virus software. I suppose everything I did got transmitted to the Chinese via a secret chip imbedded in the motherboard and the Russians knew everything because of the Kaspersky software. Oh well. Don't do anything secret on that laptop. Kind of fun thinking about spy vs. spy and measure vs. countermeasure. But seriously, the US Government should not buy software from Kaspersky nor computers from Lenovo.
Perhaps the USA Government should have a policy of only buying software and computer hardware from American sources-I don't think Russia is as bad as it is being made out to be-but I wouldn't want to be dependent on other countries for certain things such as military equipment and materials for making military equipment -is it even possible to buy computer hardware that doesn't contain Chinese logic or memory circuits?
This is a problem as the world gets more and more connected. We get stuck with fragile supply chains and having to rely on people under the control of governments we don't have particularly good relations with. I have no problem with Russian people, I do have issues with Mr. Putin. It is an issue with hostile governments and not with ethnic people groups.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by msk »

Sad. Now the billion+ Chinese (and the billion+ Indians?) should drop Windows and iOS because they are American? Or do you guys really feel that the Chinese are incapable of writing an operating system? Personally the viruses I got were before I realized that Windows Defender comes for free and works much more unobtrusively than the extra-pay packages. Why does anyone pay McAfee, Kaspersky, etc. Use Windows Defender and be happy.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by lazydavid »

msk wrote: Thu Sep 14, 2017 2:54 pm Sad. Now the billion+ Chinese (and the billion+ Indians?) should drop Windows and iOS because they are American? Or do you guys really feel that the Chinese are incapable of writing an operating system?
They have no need to. Windows 10 China Government Edition was released in May.
The Windows 10 China Government Edition is based on Windows 10 Enterprise Edition, which already includes many of the security, identity, deployment, and manageability features governments and enterprises need. The China Government Edition will use these manageability features to remove features that are not needed by Chinese government employees like OneDrive, to manage all telemetry and updates, and to enable the government to use its own encryption algorithms within its computer systems.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by J G Bankerton »

There have been rumors about Kaspersky. I have used Kaspersky based ZoneAlarm for many years. I may just let Windows Defender handle it when my subscription to ZoneAlarm is up.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by VictoriaF »

In defense of the Russians,
Earlier today I watched a CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) webcast "Ransomware and Cybersecurity Cooperation," which is now available for viewing, https://www.csis.org/events/ransomware- ... ooperation . The panel included a CSIS Senior VP as a moderator and representatives from Hyatt hotels, Bank of America, and Department of Justice. But the real star of the panel was Dmitri Alperovitch, Co-Founder and CTO of CrowdStrike. Based on his name I am certain that his parents, if not him, have immigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union. Out of curiosity I checked Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Alperovitch. While it does not address Alperovitch's family origins, his biography is very impressive:
Wikipedia wrote:He is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank and was named in December 2013 as one of Foreign Policy's Top 100 Leading Global Thinkers, along with Angela Merkel, John Kerry, Ben Bernanke and Jeff Bezos.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by Alchemist »

I am mainly a Mac/iOS person but my normal travel computer is a Surface Pro 3 since Windows plays nice with my work email/web applications. I have TrendMicro installed on that machine. I had assumed it was American since I knew they had offices in California. Turns out they are actually Japanese, just like my husband :happy

I'm ok with that, I wouldn't have Kaspersky and you wouldn't catch me ever using a Lenovo or Huawei device but I think products that come from Treaty Allies of the United States are probably ok.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by bob60014 »

Kaspersky ...never used it, never will!!! For the obvious reasons.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by djmbob »

Last spring I searched for an American Company and found Malwarebytes and switched from AVG... it's based in CA.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by nisiprius »

Just to try to be clear-headed about this, considerations that might disqualify a foreign-made product from being used on government computers might not disqualify it from being used on my personal computer.

It might be appropriate for the U.S. government to ban a foreign-made software product out of an abundance of caution, and the possibility that it could somehow be a tool of Russian espionage. Home computer users might rationally judge that the risk and consequences are much lower for them.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by azurekep »

nisiprius wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:51 am Just to try to be clear-headed about this, considerations that might disqualify a foreign-made product from being used on government computers might not disqualify it from being used on my personal computer.

It might be appropriate for the U.S. government to ban a foreign-made software product out of an abundance of caution, and the possibility that it could somehow be a tool of Russian espionage. Home computer users might rationally judge that the risk and consequences are much lower for them.
You're probably right.

But these days, the motivations behind state-sponsored hacking are no longer just espionage. They include general disruption and loss of confidence in our system.

The Equifax hackers are certainly causing disruption and loss of confidence in our system.

But the hack is not causing a loss of confidence in democracy and our democratic institutions.

So again, maybe you're right.

Facebook is a better attack vector for state actors wanting to influence hearts and minds (i.e., propaganda) and to seed doubts in our democratic system.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by hale2 »

Gray wrote: Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:59 pm I respect those employees at Kaspersky who are genuinely working to stop malware and ensure the protection of all. I used Kaspersky in the early 2000s without any issues.

The problem is that Russia is not a free society. It is controlled by Putin, and if the FSB asks Kaspersky to permit attack vectors known only to the Russian government, and to stay silent, if you're Kaspersky, you'll do just that. I'm not saying that that has happened, but it can happen, and that's what the U.S. is ensuring cannot happen with regard to Federal IT systems.

I wouldn't be surprised if the urgency behind DHS binding operational directive 17-01 to remove Kaspersky products was based on evidence, not purely a political or proactive/defensive move.

There is a bit of a tit-for-tat going on, and this may be part proactive and reactive.
This is accurate and has been a concern of some agencies for awhile. Glad to see this is finally being done.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by Artsdoctor »

It's certainly true that everyone has to do their own due diligence.

I realize that it's not exactly in the same realm, but before you chuck a Russian program for an American one, just remember that Equifax certainly has a lot to answer for and may have created a lot more chaos for you than anything Kaspersky can dish out.

There are several cyber securities podcasts and articles discussing the Kaspersky issue but this article from PC Mag summarizes most of the sentiments I'm hearing:

https://www.pcmag.com/commentary/356214 ... persky-lab
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by azurekep »

Artsdoctor wrote: Sun Sep 17, 2017 10:46 am I realize that it's not exactly in the same realm, but before you chuck a Russian program for an American one, just remember that Equifax certainly has a lot to answer for and may have created a lot more chaos for you than anything Kaspersky can dish out.
We're talking two different types of sin:

* Equifax: sin of omission
* Russian hacking: sin of commission

Not saying any and all things Russian equates to hacking, but a trend is certainly developing in that direction.

The other trend is that American companies are horrific at data security.

The American trend is probably worse as consumers in many cases don't have a choice about where, how and if their personal data is stored online.
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by Tanelorn »

nisiprius wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2017 9:51 am Just to try to be clear-headed about this, considerations that might disqualify a foreign-made product from being used on government computers might not disqualify it from being used on my personal computer.

It might be appropriate for the U.S. government to ban a foreign-made software product out of an abundance of caution, and the possibility that it could somehow be a tool of Russian espionage. Home computer users might rationally judge that the risk and consequences are much lower for them.
And to elaborate on your point, as an unexpecitonal individual in the US you have a lot less to fear from the Russian government than you do from the US one, since your person and most of your assets are within easy reach of the US government. given the choice between having a US government backdoor into your computer or a Russian one, it's probably safer for you to have the Russian one.

I don't know anything special about Kaspersky, but i wouldn't be surprised if this latest spat was because the guys at Kaspersky blocked some malware or backdoor the NSA was using and wouldn't sell out their clients the way a US firm might (who could be more easily pressured by the US government).
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J G Bankerton
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by J G Bankerton »

azurekep wrote: Sun Sep 17, 2017 4:30 pm The other trend is that American companies are horrific at data security.
Security is expensive with no return on investment.
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LadyGeek
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Re: US removing Kaspersky Antivirus from government computers

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread has run its course and is locked (topic exhausted, trending to discuss US / NSA backdoors, Russia hacking). See: Locked Topics
Moderators or site admins may lock a topic (set it so no more replies may be added) when a violation of posting policy has occurred. Occasionally, even if there are no overt violations of posting policy, a topic (or thread) will reach a point where the information content of the discussion has been essentially exhausted and further replies are much more likely to cause distress to the community than add anything of value.
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