14 DAY TRIAL // Kaspersky makes some of the world’s leading security products, but this doesn’t seem to help the Russian vendor in the United States, where the government accused the company of hiding backdoors into its software to help Russia spy on high-profile users.
US retailer Best Buy is the latest big name that decided to ban the sale of Kaspersky products due to these concerns, pulling all software solutions developed by the Russian firm from its stores and the website.
A company spokesperson was quoted as saying that the whole Kaspersky saga currently includes what they describe as “too many unanswered questions,” with no other specifics offered.
But the decision doesn’t come as a big surprise. Earlier this year, it’s been reported that the FBI was approaching companies in the private sector to ban Kaspersky products and to remove them from their systems, as part of a nationwide effort against the Russian company.
The whole dispute started in July, when the US government decided to remove Kaspersky from the approved software list, explaining that it’s concerned the firm could collaborate with Russian on spying users.
Best Buy allowing customers to get a different antivirus free of charge
While Kaspersky denied all the claims and even offered to conduct security audits to prove its software is completely clean, the US government continued its campaign against the firm, pressing companies in both the public and the private sectors to remove the said security products.
The most recent accusations come from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, who revealed in a column in the New York Times that six top intelligence officials, including heads of the CIA and the FBI, voted against the use of Kaspersky software and expressed their concerns regarding possible backdoors that would be used by Russia to spy on users.
“Beyond the evidence of direct links between [Eugene] Kaspersky and the Russian government, we cannot ignore the indirect links inherent in doing business in the Russia of President Vladimir Putin, where oligarchs and tycoons have no choice but to cooperate with the Kremlin,” she explained.
Users who purchased Kaspersky software from Best Buy and still have valid licenses will be able to replace them with other security products free of charge in the next 45 days.