What happens when the software you count on for protection instead becomes the problem?

Take, for example, Kaspersky, a Moscow-based brand of antivirus software with 400 million users globally. Recently, they’ve been the subject of some dramatic headlines:

U.S. moves to ban Kaspersky software in federal agencies amid concerns of Russian espionage

Kaspersky Lab Has Been Working with Russian Intelligence

What the Kaspersky antivirus hack really means

According to reports, “The Russian government reportedly used the company’s software to steal sensitive information from American intelligence agents.”

There was enough concern that just this past September, the Department of Homeland Security ordered all federal agencies to remove Kaspersky software from their networks.

The department stated that, “The risk that the Russian government, whether acting on its own or in collaboration with Kaspersky, could capitalize on access provided by Kaspersky products to compromise federal information and information systems directly implicates U.S. national security.”

Why this story matters

Among other things, the Kaspersky story points out why antivirus software is so often used by spies to infiltrate networks.

The security products we trust to protect us have full access to the files on our hard drives. In addition, users rarely run malware detection programs on antivirus software. These factors can be exploited by anyone with malicious intent.

What should you do?

Although the risk may be low, we recommend that state and local government, businesses and home users uninstall Kaspersky.

Future Link uses and recommends Bit Defender – widely respected for its combination of protection, performance, usability and endpoint security options. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2017, for example, protects against viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, zero-day exploits, rootkits and spyware. It does so without significantly affecting performance or speed.

The experts at Future Link IT are ready to assist you with alternatives to Kaspersky and how to  boost your level of protection with Bit Defender.