Kaspersky users in the US say their antivirus was replaced by UltraAV

Kaspersky users in the US have discovered that their antivirus has been replaced by UltraAV. That doesn't seem like it would do wonders for a company's PR image.

For those unaware, the US government banned the sale of Kaspersky products in the United States in June, with the rule coming into effect on July 20. Why? Because the US Government believed that "Kaspersky and third-party products that integrate Kaspersky's products pose undue and unacceptable risks to U.S. national security and to the security and safety of U.S. persons." However, the Russian cybersecurity firm was allowed to provide software updates to users in the US, until September 29. On July 20, Kaspersky announced it was ending its business operations in the US.

Now, all of us were expecting Kaspersky to inform the user about how they would be affected by the issue when updates are no longer provided. The logical expectation was that the user would be educated on how to uninstall the antivirus from their computer, and use Windows Defender as an alternative.

US Kaspersky users say their antivirus has been replaced by UltraAV

Kaspersky had other plans. It partnered with UltraAV in an undisclosed deal to replace its own antivirus on over 1 million users' computers. Kaspersky antivirus was uninstalled automatically on user's computers, and silently replaced by UltraAV. This is textbook malware behavior right there.

What is UltraAV?

UltraAV is based in Boston, and is owned by Pango, a partner of Kaspersky. The company is the same one that owns UltraVPN, and Hotspot Shield. The Register reports that Pango was acquired by Aura, a Massachusetts firm, in 2021. Aura had acquired Max Secure Software, an Indian security vendor, two years ago. UltraAV uses the engine created my Max Secure Software. Confused yet?

This is probably Kaspersky's way of sidestepping the restrictions set by the US, it's not a direct product, nor is it integrated into a third party. But it sure isn't a good deal from the consumer's perspective.

Well, UltraAV doesn't appear to be a rebranding or rebadging of Kaspersky. Here's a comparison of the features offered by the two products. It includes a VPN, Password Manager, and all the bells and whistles that most security products have these days.

Honestly, UltraAV is the most generic name that you could pick. It kind of sounds like a fake software, doesn't it? There are several reports on reddit, where users say they panicked after they saw something called UltraAV on their computer. I suppose the reaction is fair, I'd have probably done the same.

I don't think this migration was a good idea, in fact, this could be the dumbest way to have handled the situation. Why not just display a warning to the user, and ask them to use Microsoft Defender? It's free, and not a premium competitor that would affect it in other markets, or perhaps it could give people in other Countries the impression that Defender is enough? The ethical choice would be to just asked the user if they want to switch to UltraAV, and an option to decline the migration?

Did Kaspersky notify users about the transition to UltraAV?

It turns out they did, Axios wrote about this 2 weeks ago. Users were notified about the migration from Kaspersky to UltraAV via email. But some users say they were never informed prior to the software's installation.

(Image courtesy: reddit)

Hang on! That email doesn't seem to say that UltraAV would be automatically installed on the user's PC, nor does it ask for the user's permission. Axios' report does mention that there would be "no action required by customers."

Anyway, UltraAV antivirus does appear to be a legit product. The official website has a banner at the top that takes visitors to a page about the transition to UltraAV.

Notice the banner that has the same wording, "No action required"?

Is it a good antivirus? I have no idea about it, but don't forget to turn off auto-renewal for the subscription. I'd probably uninstall it and stick to Windows Defender if I were you, or just use Bitdefender Free. Don't use Avast/Avira/AVG/Norton, they are all the same trash.

I get that Kaspersky has closed up shop in the US, but this is a poor way to repay the loyalty of your users. It could potentially have a snowball effect among customers in other regions.

What's your take on this?

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☞ El artículo completo original de Ashwin lo puedes ver aquí