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Kaspersky Launches its Free Antivirus Software Worldwide

posted by mrpg on Wednesday July 26 2017, @08:07PM   Printer-friendly
from the sure-why-not dept.

Fnord666 writes:

Kaspersky has finally launched its free antivirus software after a year-and-a-half of testing it in select regions. While the software was only available in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, China and in Nordic countries during its trial run, Kaspersky is releasing it worldwide. The free antivirus doesn't have VPN, Parental Controls and Online Payment Protection its paid counterpart offers, but it has all the essential features you need to protect your PC. It can scan files and emails, protect your PC while you use the web and quarantine malware that infects your system.

The company says the software isn't riddled with advertisements like other free antivirus offerings. Instead of trying to make ad money off your patronage, Kaspersky will use the data you contribute to improve machine learning across its products. The free antivirus will be available in the US, Canada and most Asia-Pacific countries over the next couple of days, if it isn't yet. After this initial release, the company will roll it out in other regions from September to November.

Source:

Kaspersky launches its free antivirus software worldwide

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  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday July 26 2017, @08:56PM (1 child)

    by looorg (578) on Wednesday July 26 2017, @08:56PM (#544865)

    So the company that is getting slammed by the current administration for potential, actual and/or possible connections with Russian security service (FSB) is handing out free antivirus software to the public. I guess when you get removed from doing business with governments you can always turn to the public. That said I have no idea if their product is any better or worse then any other similar product on the market. It just seems like a somewhat odd thing to do, trying to get government contracts and when that fails you instead just turn to the public, it seems like the fallback-option.

    But Eugene Kaspersky was never able to overcome lingering suspicions among U.S. intelligence officials that he and his company were, or could become, pawns of Russia's spy agencies.

    the U.S. General Services Administration, the government agency that manages the federal bureaucracy, removed Kaspersky from a list of approved vendors, saying GSA's mission was to ensure the security of U.S. government systems.

    Last month FBI agents visited the homes of Kaspersky employees as part of a counterintelligence probe, and the Trump administration took steps to remove the company from a list of approved vendors who sell technology products to federal government agencies.
    There is also a bill in Congress that would explicitly prohibit the Department of Defense from using Kaspersky products.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-kasperskylab-analysis-idUSKBN19Z0EH [reuters.com]

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @06:46AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 27 2017, @06:46AM (#545030)

    Kaspersky is generally ranked as the #1 antivirus available, and has been for years. Here [av-test.org] is one site that routinely sends a variety of major antivirus software through a set of rigorous tests. Click the arrow icon to get more information on the tests they use and the overall results. Kaspersky outperformed all other top performers in terms of false positives (it had zero) and performance. You can search for other similar tests. There's plenty and it always comes out on top.

    This is why our government in the middle of their little red-scare is having to try to pass laws to get people to stop using it. Note Kaspersky also offered full source code access to our government which is laying yourself as bare as possible. The motivations for the attack on Kaspersky are definitely not as they seem. I'm the sort of person that will not install Windows 10 (and have also disabled telemtry updates) but will happily be using Kaspersky.