Government employees are still using Kaspersky despite the ban

Date:
Thu, 19 Dec 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Description:
Workers are trusting Kaspersky products despite a Government ban.

FULL STORY

Kaspersky was banned in the US in September this year, but that hasnt stopped
workers from multiple government agencies from continuing to use Kaspersky
products. New research from Bitsight has revealed that the Russia-based
antivirus firm still has a surprising number of customers within the US
government. 

It's been nearly 3 months since Kaspersky products were banned from use in 
the US after national security concerns rose surrounding the Russian firm,
despite consistent denials of any Kremlin influence from the organisation.
However, research shows that 40% of government agencies are still using
Kaspersky products. 

In fact, so many users are still active that the US remains the firms largest
customer, with 19 government agencies actively using the software. Kaspersky
is no longer allowed to sell or update its antivirus software in the US, but
this has only led to a 58% decline in the use of the products.

Unacceptable national security risk

Elsewhere, in countries like the UK, Italy, and Germany, warnings have been
issued against the products, but no outright bans have been put in place.
Despite this, Germany has seen a 69% decline in usage, so this has been
arguably more effective. 

Many Kaspersky customers had their antivirus products forcibly replaced with
partner  software UltraAV, meaning there has been a significant global 
decline in the use of the firm's software since the ban. 

This isnt the first time Kaspersky software has been found in use after the
ban took effect, with some users reporting that they werent concerned about
data theft and were unwilling to blindly trust the US government on this
issue, with others simply unwilling to waste the money they had already 
spent. 

If the trend continues, it looks likely that Kaspersky products will be
virtually out of use in the future, but it may take a few months.

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/government-employees-are-still-using-ka
spersky-despite-the-ban

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