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Customers of Kaspersky antivirus in the United States found out in the last few days that their cybersecurity computer software was mechanically replaced with a raw one call UltraAV , according to several client who posted on social media . And some of the customers say they had no idea this was go to happen .
“ wake up to Kasperky [ sic ] completely gone from my system with Ultra AV and Ultra VPN freshly installed ( not by me , just automatically while I kip ) , ” a user on Redditwrote . Others in the sameReddit screw thread , as well as inotherthreads , reported having the same experience .
A reseller , who until recently sold Kaspersky ware prior to the recent sales Bachelor of Arts in Nursing , told TechCrunch that he was leave “ nettle ” by the move to automatically remove Kaspersky software and replace it with an entirely different antivirus . A former senior U.S. government activity cybersecurity official said that this was an example of the “ huge risk ” posed by the access granted by Kaspersky computer software .
It ’s deserving note that , on the other hand , othercustomersdidreportreceiving an e-mail from Kaspersky about the transition to UltraAV .
The transition to UltraAV descend months after the U.S. government took the unprecedented decisionto forbiddance all sales of Kaspersky softwareacross the United States . In June , the Commerce Department announced that sales of the antivirus software would be cast out starting July 20 . After that , Kaspersky was permit to provide limited certificate updates to client until September 29 .
In early September , Axios reportedthat Kaspersky had reached a deal to offload its client to American cybersecurity firm Pango , which owns UltraAV , a relatively new antivirus software .
UltraAVhas a page on its siteannouncing that Kaspersky customers using Windows would get the new antivirus with their existing subscription and that “ no action is required . ” It ’s undecipherable when the Thomas Nelson Page was write . The former versionof the page saved on the Internet Archive dates back to September 6 .
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Kaspersky also confirmed the modulation to UltraAV .
“ Kaspersky has additionally partnered with UltraAV to make the modulation to their product as unseamed as potential , which is why on 9/19 , U.S. Kaspersky antivirus customers received a software update alleviate the conversion to UltraAV . This update ensured that user would not see a gap in protection upon Kaspersky ’s going from the marketplace , ” a Kaspersky employee only named Vadim M.wrote in an prescribed company forumon Saturday .
Kaspersky did not respond to a postulation for comment .
Pango representative Sydney Harwood order TechCrunch that “ all Kaspersky customers were advise of the transition to UltraAV ” in early September . When asked repeatedly by TechCrunch , Pango could not point to where customers had been explicitly recite users that their Kaspersky software system would be force - supervene upon with UltraAV .
Avi Fleischer , a customer of Kaspersky , order TechCrunch that he also was storm by the passage .
“ I ’m annoyed at Kaspersky , ” said Fleischer , who is also the founder of Technical Difficulties , a company that was an prescribed Kaspersky reseller . “ Basically , on my computers , Kaspersky pushed an uninstall of the Kaspersky product and agitate an automatic install of UltraAV & UltraVPN onto my computing equipment . They should ’ve given me the choice to accept UltraAV or not . ”
“ They should NEVER tug software onto someone ’s computer without explicit permission , ” said Fleischer . “ in person , I remove the UltraAV & UltraVPN now . ”
Rob Joyce , the former music director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency , said in a post on X : “ drug user were ‘ migrate ’ — software uninstalled and a completely different intersection was set up automagically , ” add that Kaspersky “ had full control of your machine . ”