Kaspersky users in the US have discovered that their antivirus has been replaced by UltraAV. It doesn't look like this will do any wonders for the company's PR image.
For those who don't know, the US government banned the sale of Kaspersky products in the US in June, and the rule came into effect on July 20. Why? Because the US government believed that “Kaspersky and third-party products that integrate Kaspersky's products pose an unreasonable and unacceptable risk to US national security and the safety and security of the American people.” However, the Russian cybersecurity firm was allowed to provide software updates to users in the US until September 29. On July 20, Kaspersky announced that it was ending its business operations in the US.
Now, we all expected that Kaspersky would tell the user how they would be affected by this issue when updates are no longer available. The logical expectation was that the user would be told how to uninstall the antivirus from their computer, and how to 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US Kaspersky users say their antivirus has been replaced by UltraAV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 antivirus on the computers of more than 1 million users. Kaspersky antivirus was automatically uninstalled on the user's computer, and quietly replaced by UltraAV. This is absolutely textbook malware behavior.
What is UltraAV?
UltraAV is based in Boston, and is owned by Pango, which is a partner of Kaspersky. This is the same company that owns UltraVPN and Hotspot Shield. register According to the report, Pango was acquired by Aura, a Massachusetts-based firm, in 2021. Aura had acquired Max Secure Software, an Indian security vendor, two years ago. UltraAV uses an engine built by Max Secure Software. Are you still confused?
This is probably Kaspersky's way of evading US-imposed sanctions, it is not a direct product, nor is it integrated with any third party. But from a consumer's point of view it is certainly not a good deal.
By the way, UltraAV is not meant to be a rebranding or rebadging of Kaspersky. Here is a comparison of the features offered by the two products. This includes VPN, password manager and all the features that most security products have these days.
Honestly, UltraAV is the most common name you can choose. It sounds like a fake software, right? There are many reports on Reddit where users say they panicked when they saw something called UltraAV on their computer. I think the reaction is justified, I probably would have done the same.
I don't think this migration was a good idea, in fact, it may have been the most foolish way to handle the situation. Why not just display a warning to the user, and tell them to use Microsoft Defender? It's free, and there are no premium competitors that would affect it in other markets, or perhaps it could give people in other countries the impression that Defender is enough? The ethical option would be to just ask the user if they want to switch to UltraAV, and give the option to decline the migration?
Did Kaspersky notify users about the change to UltraAV?
It turned out that they had done it, Axios Wrote about this 2 weeks ago. Users were informed about the migration from Kaspersky to UltraAV via email. But some users say they never been informed Before installing the software.
(Image Courtesy: reddit,
Wait! That email does not say that UltraAV will be automatically installed on a user's PC, nor does it ask for user permission. The Axios report mentions that “no action will be required by customers.”
Anyway, UltraAV Antivirus appears to be a legitimate product. The official website has a banner at the top that takes visitors to a website. Page Regarding changes to UltraAV.
Did you notice the banner that also says, “No action required”?
Is it a good antivirus? I have no idea about it, but don't forget to turn off auto-renewal for subscriptions. If I were you I'd probably uninstall it and use Windows Defender, or just use BitDefender Free. Don't use Avast/Avira/AVG/Norton, they're all the same garbage.
I know Kaspersky has shut down shop in the US, but this is a poor way to repay your users for their loyalty. This could potentially have a negative impact on customers in other regions.
What do you have to say on this?
Thanks for reading..
