Kaspersky Installs a New Antivirus Software on Its Users’ Computers Without Warning

It’s concerning that hackers are secretly installing malware on users’ computers. However, it’s even more alarming when a company like Kaspersky installs software on its customers’ devices without their consent.

Recently, several users discovered new software apps on their computers that they didn’t install themselves. One Reddit user reported waking up to find “Kaspersky completely gone from my system with Ultra AV and Ultra VPN freshly installed (not by me, just automatically while I slept).”

Several other Reddit users also said that the cybersecurity provider had remotely uninstalled their popular app and then installed two new tools. The affected users have another thing in common: They’re located in the U.S.

Meanwhile, some users received an email from Kaspersky indicating that the software would be replaced by the UltraAV security suite. However, affected users have criticized UltraAV for being an inferior alternative in some areas.

The news comes shortly after the U.S. banned the sale of security products from Kaspersky, a Russian company. As a result of the ban imposed in June, users of Kaspersky products were left without support three months after the measure was activated. It shouldn’t be too surprising that the company also made additional changes to the products installed on U.S. computers three months after the ban was announced.

In early November, Axios reported that Kaspersky had reached an agreement with Pango, the owner of UltraAV, to offer an alternative cybersecurity suite. As stated on its website, the new suite was offered to Kaspersky’s Windows customers as part of their subscription, with “no action required” on their part.

According to TechCrunch, Kaspersky has confirmed the transition to UltraAV. Sydney Harwood, a spokesperson for Pango, told the outlet that “all Kaspersky customers were notified of the transition to UltraAV” in early September. However, it seems that many customers didn’t receive or read the notification.

In any case, this type of automatic, remote installation and management is concerning because it shows the level of control security companies have over their users’ computers. In an X post, former NSA cybersecurity director Rob Joyce mentioned that Kaspersky “had total control of your machine.”

If there’s anything we can learn from this case, it’s that, as one Kaspersky customer told TechCrunch, “they should never push software onto someone’s computer without explicit permission. Personally, I removed the UltraAV & UltraVPN immediately.”

Image | Christin Hume

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