garioch7

I have been a Kaspersky Premium (five seats, two years) customer for only five months. I was so very happy to find such a great product. Since 1988, when I started with PCs, I have used many different cybersecurity products at home and work over the years, but none were as refined and capable as Kaspersky. In my opinion, as a UNITE-certified Malware Removal Expert and Instructor, it was the best in its class. Then came the US ban on Kaspersky products. Kaspersky chose to respond to that ban by silently, forcibly, without the explicit consent of their customers, installing an unknown, untested, dubious new AV product that no one had heard of in the malware removal community. The reports to date on that replacement product are consistently negative. Then came the recent removal of update capability via the Google Play Store (GPS) for their Mobile Security product. I had to ask myself: would I recommend Kaspersky to anyone now, given that anyone following these Forums knows very well that Kaspersky representatives have not been responsive to the concerns expressed by the US Kaspersky customers or those of us from other countries who now find ourselves without the seamless (GPS) updates to our Android devices that were an implied part of our subscriptions. We have been receiving platitudes and company "damage control" posts in Kaspersky's own Forums. Kaspersky has now demonstrated to millions of US customers that they can forcibly modify their computers without their consent. That is the definition of "malware." In this case, Kaspersky delivered an inferior AV solution, but Kaspersky could have delivered a malicious malware payload instead, not just to their US customers but to all of their customers. Think about it . . . I have removed all of my devices from my Kaspersky account. That is the only sure way to prevent such possible future abuse. For now, I have replaced their product with a reputable cybersecurity solution to protect my four devices. I expect that this post will be removed, but I have a copy, which I will post on other reputable security Forums if it disappears or I am banned. Forum Rules state that Forum members can provide feedback to Kaspersky. That is what I am doing, in the hopes, perhaps naive, that Kaspersky will address the serious issues that its recent actions have raised. Respectfully Submitted, Phil

@MedvedevUnited, How could you mark this topic as "SOLVED" on September 29th? It is NOT SOLVED. We still have no updates via Google Play Store, and not only in the US. The EU and Canada are affected, according to my information, and probably customers from many other countries as well. It is unacceptable. According to other security websites, Kaspersky will not be able to resolve this GPS removal. Why not just tell us that? Regards, Phil

@Larry Guy, Thank you for your reply. It is YOUR computer, so it is YOUR decision. Have a great weekend. Regards, Phil

@Flood and Flood's wife, That "new" link you provided to @Midnight Spirit seems to imply that Kaspersky has written off the Google Play Store and abandoned us GPS clients. GPS is no longer listed as a provider. The official SILENCE from Kaspersky is so very disappointing. This must be amateur "damage control." I surmise now that Kaspersky has no intention of fixing the GPS issue. That contradicts what you reported last week as having been stated by @Danila T. in this post on this very topic: https://forum.kaspersky.com/topic/is-kaspersky-blocked-removed-from-google-play-50791/?do=findComment&comment=187990 My personal perception is that the Kaspersky position now is that their customers can "put up and shut up." Not your issue, @Flood and Flood's wife! You have no control. The more that this US ban stuff keeps spiralling and intensifying to negatively impact non-US customers, and the lack of concrete remedial action and communication from Kaspersky is going to absolutely result in customer dissatisfaction. Personally, I am SERIOUSLY disappointed. This is not how a reputable company looks after its customers. The Kaspersky US migration strategy of a forced, silent transfer to an unknown, untested, seriously deficient AV product is simply unacceptable. Period. Their initial plan, of which there have been reports, to migrate users to BItdefender made good sense, but even then, BD should not have been silently installed without the explicit consent of the Kaspersky users affected by the US ban. If this is going to continue, this stonewalling by Kaspersky and the lack of communications, then I guess that I will have to eat the money I paid Kaspersky in May for my two-year Premium 5-seat subscription and find an ethical and customer-focused company to which I can confidently entrust my cybersecurity. The last month of witnessing Kaspersky's incompetence has irrevocably damaged my trust in the company. Personally, I really hope that they change course immediately. Kaspersky Premium is a premier cybersecurity product. I will be sad to have to abandon it. Just my two cents. Have a great day. Regards, Phil

@Larry Guy, If you have prevented UltraAV from installing itself, then I don't think that Kaspersky will cease to function or any of its protection modules, BUT your computer(s) will be at increasing risk as the days, weeks, and months go on. Immunology is an interesting analogy, but not completely relevant to the emerging malware threats in the cybersphere. There is a reason why reputable AV companies expend such vast sums of money identifying and creating the capability to recognize and nullify new and emerging malware variants. It is YOUR computer. It is YOUR choice. Personally, if I were a US citizen, I would be outraged that my government took away my freedom of choice to use the best AV product in the world. That said, in your situation, I would be looking for a new, reputable AV. The AV Comparative Labs tests are impartial and universally respected by those of us in the malware removal community. Remember to have a robust backup strategy also, please. Have a great day. Regards, Phil

@John Sellers, Just to add to what @CLEsportsstated, there are reputable online scanners. At Bleeping Computer, regardless of the AV solution that was on the computer, good or bad, most Malware Removal Specialists there normally ran an ESET online scan to pick up what the Farbar Recovery and Scan Tool (FRST) did not show us in its logs, that we would fix it using a FRST "fixlist" after it had run. If you have any concerns about being possibly infected after a reputable online scan(s), you can have your computer checked there or at the Malwarebytes Forums by certified malware removal specialists. There are dedicated malware removal forums on those sites that are entirely free. We volunteer our time and expertise. As @CLEsports has suggested, don't panic yet! There might be absolutely no need to restore a month-old backup. That said, a robust backup strategy is even more important than your choice of AV product. No one product can protect a computer against all threats all of the time. Based on my training at Bleeping Computer, and as a former certified Malware Response Instructor, I cannot recommend anyone use UltraAV. I would not have it on my computer. @CLEsportshas given you excellent advice. Good luck, and have a great day. Regards, Phil

@MedvedevUnited, Thank you for your reply. It does not address the question of WHEN or even IF the Google Play Store (GPS) Kaspersky Android version updates downloads will resume . . . The issue was first reported, according to @Flood and Flood's wife, almost two months ago. We were promised an update. We were told Kaspersky was actively pursuing a solution. I was not aware that the US ban on its citizens using Kaspersky products extended to the rest of the countries in the world who relied on GPS to automatically and seamlessly update our Android protection program. Would you be so kind as to explain to Kaspersky Android protection users what is being done to restore the service for which we are paying by subscription to Kaspersky? I don't know if the Galaxy version update was the one you saw in my screenshot. I had followed the advice of @nexon and downloaded the current version of the .apk file directly from Kaspersky AFTER the Galaxy Store update. I was looking for the KSN option, so I thought at the time it might be in the latest .apk file. That was the version that I sent you the screenshot of. @Flood and Flood's wife have eloquently explained that, regardless of my version, there is no such option for your Canadian and most of your other customers, except for those in selected countries. Nor has Kaspersky explained why the KSN opt-in or opt-out option is only available in certain countries. An explanation is requested again. As Kaspersky customers, are we not entitled to transparency and answers to our legitimate questions from the corporation? Respectfully submitted for your consideration and reply. Thank you. Have a great day. Regards, Phil

@Larry Guy , Welcome to the Kaspersky Forums. Your loyalty to Kaspersky is understandable. I would be outraged if I were a US citizen at the government denying me the right to choose my cybersecurity solution. As a certified malware removal expert and instructor, I think Kaspersky is the best AV product. I migrated to Kaspersky from Bitdefender (the #2 in AV Comparatives Lab testing last year). That said, even Kaspersky recognizes that without signature and version updates, their US customers would be at increasing of malware infections. New malware, particularly ransomware variants, are being released constantly into the cybersphere. That is why they migrated their customers to a new AV product. I do neither agree with their choice of product nor the way the migration was handled, but the intent was to protect their US customers. I would discourage you from continuing to rely on Kaspersky when it is no longer updated. It is your computer, so it is your choice. At the very least, implement a very robust backup strategy with offline backups to protect your computer(s) from a malware attack. That should be done by everyone, regardless of their AV solution. No AV, not even Kaspersky, can protect you from all of the malware threats, all of the time. Stay safe in cyberspace. Have a great day. Regards, Phil

@Skidmarks , I am happy to hear that you were able to successfully uninstall UltraAV. Thank you for posting back. Please let us know if you get the auto-renewal cancelled and if you can successfully cancel your UltraAV account. I see many reports on the security Forums that I visit almost daily that it is not easy to get support from the company. Stay safe yourself. Have a great day. Regards, Phil

@Flood and Flood's wife, Thank you for your comprehensive explanation of the GPS and KSN issues that have been raised. I hope that Kaspersky is listening because the "information being published shortly", as stated by @Danila T. on Friday, has exceeded your 24-hour expectation, unfortunately. As a Premium subscriber, I am unhappy with the GPS situation and the inability to seamlessly and automatically update my mobile Android versions on both of my phones. I am happy to learn that, while I do not have the option to turn KSN off, I now know, thanks to your post, that it is on, which would be my choice, IF I was given the choice. Like you, I cannot comprehend why customers in some countries have that option, and the rest of us don't. Perhaps Kaspersky could shed some light on that anomaly. Once again, THANK YOU for sharing your knowledge with the community, @Flood and Flood's wife ! You both are an incredible asset to Kaspersky and its customers. Have a great day. Regards, Phil

@Skidmarks, Good luck. Please let us know if the uninstall is successful. Personally, being a Revo Uninstaller Pro customer for many years, I would use that product. It has never let me down. What is interesting to me, being a Canadian, is that in all of the security Forums of which I am a member, I have seen no accolades for the UltraAV product, only complaints. You have lots of fellow former US Kaspersky customers who are very irate with the migration strategy and the product chosen to replace the top AV in the world in your country. Please keep us posted. Have a great day, if you can. Regards, Phil

@MedvedevUnited, Thank you for your reply. Here is the screenshot you requested attached. The reference to @nexon was in an older topic. This is a link to what he was seeing: https://forum.kaspersky.com/topic/does-accepting-the-ksn-statement-on-android-enhance-the-protection-49801/?do=findComment&comment=183448 In my "Legal," I have no such option, as @Flood and Flood's wife subsequently explained int that topic. I cannot opt in or opt out of KSN on my mobile (Samsung Galaxy S21). Have a great day. Regards, Phil

@Kaspersky213, IF you are in the United States, which is what I am perhaps erroneously presuming, the primary issue is that the virus/malware landscape changes constantly. To be properly protected from cyber threats, you need current versions and signature updates to your AV product. US law now prohibits Kaspersky from providing those to you. If you continue to use Kaspersky, for now at least, you should be automatically upgraded to UltraAV without your consent. The only way to avoid that is to uninstall Kaspersky, if you are in the United States and purchased Kaspersky there. Otherwise, you could uninstall Kaspersky, activate Windows Defender, if you are a Windows user, or purchase another paid Windows AV product. It is your computer, so it IS YOUR DECISION. Have a great day. Regards, Phil

@MedvedevUnited, Thank you for your reply. I am downloading from the Galaxy Store, but here in Canada, I am getting a different version than what @nexon cites as the current version. The Legal menu is dated 2022 and has no option to turn off or on KSN, which I would definitely want to turn on. Even downloading the .apk update file from the Kaspersky site did not update to what @nexon is seeing, wherever he is located. I hope that this issue will be resolved very soon. This is not what we paid for. In the past, as @Flood and Flood's wife have pointed out, the version upgrades were seamless and automatic via Google Play Store. Have a great day. Please keep us posted here in the English community. Thank you. Regards, Phil

@Flood and Flood's wife, Thank you for your information. I most certainly hope that a response and fix from Kaspersky is forthcoming soon. I followed @nexon's advice and downloaded the current .apk from Kaspersky, but my Legal is still dated 2022, with no option to opt in or out of KSN. It appears that this might be country-specific, but my Kaspersky Premium account is Canadian, purchased directly from Kaspersky in May 2024. I can very well understand that @Danila T. had a "seriously crap week" last week. He is on the "front lines," taking a lot of criticism from frustrated users, myself included. I doubt that he was the one who decided that this is how Kaspersky would mishandle the US ban of Kaspersky products. I was so seriously frustrated that I began researching alternatives to Kaspersky. I left Bitdefender for various reasons. Kaspersky is so much better than anything else that is out there. For now, I am going to stick it out because I really don't want to downgrade my cybersecurity because of this imbroglio. Perhaps naively, I am hoping that Kaspersky seriously improves its corporate communications and decisions as a result of this mess. Kaspersky is such a great product. It is a real shame what happened to the company and its US customers as a result of the US ban. Let us hope we have hit bottom, and because of the lessons learned, it will be onward and upward for Kaspersky going forward, with a renewed focus on customer rights. You are quite right. I think we need to hit the "Pause" button now. I am sure Kaspersky is by now aware of its customers' well-founded concerns with how the corporation has handled this so far. Let's give them some time to rectify this mess. Have a great day. Regards, Phil