U.S. customers wake up to find Kaspersky antivirus sneakily replaced with UltraAV — switchover caught many users by surprise

Kaspersky HQ
(Image credit: Kaspersky)

Kaspersky, a Russian cybersecurity firm, ceased its U.S. operations but has automatically replaced its antivirus software on American computers with UltraAV. No warning was given that the switch would occur on the day, reports Bleeping Computer. This decision follows the U.S. government's ban on Kaspersky software updates and sales, which takes effect on September 29, 2024, over national security concerns. 

Earlier this year Kaspersky was added to the U.S. Entity List due to national security concerns and had to halt business in the U.S. In July, Kaspersky began laying off U.S. employees and preparing to close operations. In September the company notified its customers that they would be transitioned to UltraAV, an antivirus from Pango Group. However, the abrupt transition occurred without warning via an automatic update a few days ago.

"Following the recent decision by the U.S. Department of Commerce that prohibits Kaspersky from selling or updating certain antivirus products in the United States, Kaspersky partnered with antivirus provider UltraAV to ensure continued protection for US-based customers that will no longer have access to Kaspersky’s protections," a statement by Kaspersky reads. "Kaspersky and UltraAV worked closely to ensure customers would maintain the standards of security and privacy users have come to expect from their service." 

Many users were surprised to find that Kaspersky software was abruptly removed from their devices and UltraAV installed instead. This occurred through an automatic update on September 19, 2024, and was intended to avoid any disruption in protection. Customers reported confusion and concerns, some even feared that malware had infiltrated their systems due to the unannounced switch. Those previously subscribed to Kaspersky's VPN services also found that UltraVPN was installed, unexpectedly. 

Additionally, some users had difficulty uninstalling UltraAV, which reappeared after rebooting their devices.  

Kaspersky defended its decision, explaining that the transition was made to ensure continued protection for U.S. customers after the company's departure from the market. The company assured users that UltraAV offers a similar set of features to Kaspersky's previous software. Meanwhile, UltraAV claims that its services are even better than Kaspersky's as it offers $1 million identity theft compensation.  

"If you are a paying Kaspersky customer, when the transition is complete UltraAV protection will be active on your device and you will be able to leverage all of the additional premium features," a statement by UltraAV reads. "Your billing schedule with UltraAV will be the same as your Kaspersky account. Annual and monthly billing will remain the same."

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

TOPICS
  • Math Geek
    surprised? that's on them for sticking with the russian program in the first place. should have been avoiding it for the last decade at least. so changing the name to "trick" those same people is hardly a surprising move.

    plenty of other options to go with, no reason to even entertain the idea of sticking with the russian spyware. i mean seriously, MS is spyware enough, no reason to share with the rest of the world.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    "The road to hell is paved with good intentions".

    Ask first. Why is that so hard to do for most Corps? Just ask and allow your users to choose what they want.

    It doesn't matter where the Company or Software is from. This is scummy behaviour that happens all around and needs to stop.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • rgd1101
    can't even find any review on UltraAV
    Reply
  • kerberos_20
    so it says us customers also received this email before it got switched
    Reply
  • rgd1101
    My guess is they found some av for cheap and pass them a few buck.
    Reply
  • ex_bubblehead
    rgd1101 said:
    My guess is they found some av for cheap and pass them a few buck.
    More likely they just did a product name change internally and are now pushing it out.
    Reply
  • kerberos_20
    ex_bubblehead said:
    More likely they just did a product name change internally and are now pushing it out.
    doesnt look like, had some look at kaspersky forums,fun read... that ultraav looks like unfinished product (barebone and UI bugs), its powered by maxsecure engine (indian), but performance is abysmall and barely catching anything
    Reply
  • husker
    Most client AV software is basically malware/bloatware/suckerware. That last term is one I made up but seems about right.
    Reply
  • rgd1101
    theregister have more info about UltraAV. what is our writer doing?
    https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/24/ultraav_kaspersky_antivirus/
    Reply
  • MisterZ
    Is Kaspersky still ok to use? I've been using it for the last 9 years.
    Reply