Kaspersky’s rather abrupt exit from the U.S. market late last week caught many users off guard.
Kaspersky apparently deleted its antivirus software from U.S. computers last Thursday and replaced it with UltraAV’s software, freaking out users who didn’t know the change was coming.
“Yeah bro I didn’t even hear about the news regarding Kaspersky,” one Redditor wrote in a larger thread on the issue. “I woke up and saw this new antivirus system on my desktop and I tried opening kaspersky but it was gone. So I had to look up what happened because I was literally having a mini heart attack that my desktop somehow had a virus which uninstalled kaspersky somehow. But I was relieved that kaspersky had news regarding it but I don’t trust the new antivirus given. I switched to bitdefender right away”
Many Customers Missed Kaspersky UltraAV Notice
Kaspersky apparently had sent an email two weeks earlier alerting users to the upcoming change (image below). However, that email said UltraAV would be contacting users with information on how to activate their new account; it said nothing of the abrupt switch that actually occurred.
The change comes about 10 days before a Biden Administration U.S. ban on Kaspersky products and services is set to take effect, and two months after Kaspersky announced it was winding down operations.
Kaspersky posted a note on the change in its forums, but that came two days after the update that many users didn’t know was coming.
UltraAV also posted a webpage and FAQ on the transition. UltraAV is owned by the Pango Group, which also owns a number of VPN and security solutions, along with the Comparitech website.
Some Users Report Problems with UltraAV Software
Some users reported difficulty uninstalling UltraAV after finding it on their computers, but some were able to uninstall it after using “uninstall programs” or finding the product’s uninstaller in its folder.
Much of the discussion centered around which AV product users would go with next. And after finding programs on their computers that they hadn’t consented to, it’s not surprising that many are looking elsewhere.
UltraAV Issues Statement
In response to the controversy surrounding the transition, UltraAV issued the following statement:
“Following the Biden administration’s announcement that it would ban Kaspersky Labs (KL) from selling or updating antivirus software in the United States effective September 29, 2024, the company reached an agreement with Pango Group to automatically transition all U.S. Kaspersky customers to its UltraAV antivirus product. This effort was intended to minimize the risk that KL users would be left unprotected for any period of time following their mandatory exit from the market.
“KL began communicating this transition to U.S. customers on September 5. All KL users with valid email addresses received direct communications and all users had access to transition notifications in-app, on MyKaspersky account pages, and via Kaspersky Labs’ webpages.
“UltraAV is a mature technology, developed and improved for more than 20 years. It incorporates the latest threat intelligence and leverages advanced techniques including AI and sophisticated heuristics to detect malware. With Ultra AV, users will receive comparable protections to those they had with KL at the same pricing. Beyond traditional antivirus and VPN services, UltraAV will also include Identity theft protections, including transaction monitoring, real-time alerts for signs of fraud, lost wallet protection and $1M identity theft insurance. For a detailed comparison of features, please reference this chart.”
Article published on Sept. 23, 2024 and updated on Sept. 25 to include UltraAV’s statement
