US spymasters trash Kaspersky: AV tools can't be trusted, we've stuck a probe in them

Five US spy bosses, and the acting FBI chief, today told the Senate intelligence committee they do not trust software from Russian antivirus maker Kaspersky. And as a result, they are reviewing Uncle Sam's use of the software. It is feared the toolkit could be commandeered by the Kremlin to attack and sabotage computers used …

[fidodogbreath]

"I would be very happy to testify in front of the Senate, to participate in the hearings and to answer any questions they would decide to ask me,"

Sure, because we all know how well-qualified US senators are to analyze the inner workings of security software.

[Anonymous Coward]

"...they do not trust....Kaspersky."

LOL.

Even if it passes on everything to the Kremlin, then it might still be less intrusive and annoying than Norton Antivirus.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "...they do not trust....Kaspersky."

Of course they do not. When they "ask nicely" AnyOhter Antivirus to not get in the way and not detect their preferred strains of malware, that AnyOther Antivirus bends over and does not even ask for Vaseline.

I believe they tried to ask Kasperski the same favor and got as an answer: "Пшёл на хуй, блядь". No, I am not going to translate that one for you. Ask a Russian speaker what does it mean.

[HAL-9000]

Confused?

I've used K for a windows box, primarily because of its' good independent test reports and the involvement of K in many international IT security efforts. Should I seek to switch? If so, can anyone recommend a good non-Russian cum non-American (obviously) alternative for work laptop?

PS I don't store any sensitive government, military, or politcial information.

[NonSSL-Login]

Re: Confused?

The problem is you are still running the software on American Intel hardware, which is riddled with backdoors for the NSA anyway. Ignoring the recent AMT blank login fiasco, there is HP's keylogging audio driver and all the other stuff we don't know about.

But we are still following the 'everything Russia is bad mmkay' line by all US officials. Ignore the fact that the US are in every network under the sun while they call everyone else hackers.

Oh and then we have the remote command execution in Microsoft Defender recently but that might have been unintended :) You have to love it when protection actually increases the attack surface.

I still recommend ESET's range of AV's for being lightweight and good with detection.

[HAL-9000]

Re: Confused?

Thnx and an upvote

[swschrad]

don't be, Kaspersky is top-shelf security

better than the holes and backdoors in your computer and OS. I just dumped the slop on my wife's machine and bought a nice new install of Kaspersky for it. I've had 7 packages over the years. Kaspersky doesn't bug me until it needs to, and it blocks ad weasels with dodgy certificates as well as the occasional accidental click on bad stuff.

[HAL-9000]

Re: don't be, Kaspersky is top-shelf security

Thnx to you too(+1upvote), will keep the K for now. God bless Eugene

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Confused?

F-Secure for instance.

[Adam JC]

Re: The Need For Speed

Also a +1 for ESET. Been a reseller for donkeys years, very lightweight, scores very highly in all tests and you barely know it's there - Last but not least, it barely has any drain on system resources whilst it's doing its thing... (Probably the most important factor for me to be honest).

[Paul Woodhouse]

Re: The Need For Speed

another +1 for ESET from here.

[Don Dumb]

Re: Confused?

@HAL-9000

Of course all our recommends are going to be subjective anecdotes (imagine few people here ever get a virus to detect). But for what it's worth, I found Kaspersky 2015 to be quite annoying (it messed around with certificates among other things) and got in the way a bit too much. Bitdefender has been much more streamlined, I barely notice it's there and it does Windows security updates better than Microsoft Update.

I only considered the few anti-virus options that were consistently at the top of the anti-virus comparison tables.

[Stork]

"He is a showboat, he is a grandstander, ..." - and there is only room for one, and that is the orange one.

[Dan 55]

And then immediately did a photoshoot in the oval office with some Russian politicians and a Russian photographer (so we are told), just to show who can grandstand the most.

[John Smith 19]

""He's a showboat, he's grandstander," "You know that,... Everybody knows that." ®

I think that's what psychiatrists call "transference." *

*Not fake news.

[Destroy All Monsters]

Comey woz fired!!11

But it wasn't Hillary who did, as was her right, it was Trump, so it's wrong.

Crying Democrats now uniting with Crying Republicans in the Daily Emoting circus.

Anyway, maybe one should investigate Microsoft for un-american activities, like pumping out capitalistic shit that needs EVIL COMMIE NATIONNO LONGER COMMIE NATION BUT STILL EVIL sourced antivirus to keep going at all?

Ceterum censeo; Ron Paul: Comey Fired… Now Fire the FBI!

[Palpy]

Re: Comey woz fired!!11 ... and yet.

You know, D.A.M., I used to be quite in sympathy with the CIA = evil and FBI = evil position. The old-time anarchists used to say that if society's rules are sensible, then all men -- being fundamentally sensible creatures -- will follow society's rules. At least enough to make society work.

I don't think that anymore. Never did, completely, I guess.

We need laws, and we need law enforcement. Unfortunately, this enforcement requires human organization and judgment, and that is fundamentally flawed. So yes, the FBI and CIA are flawed. Human organizations cannot be otherwise.

But the Ron Paul essay you linked is not very sensible. He mentions the Waco tragedy: yep, bad decisions were made. On the other hand, it's probably a bad idea to allow religious cults to amass an arsenal of illegal weapons, and then just wait for their leader to declare Armageddon.

(Interestingly, the FBI tried to learn from Waco. In the Malheur, they didn't go in with an armored vehicle, they waited the gun-toting, loud-talking malcontents out. The only death was the one man who had vowed to die rather than be arrested.)

Yes, we need checks on the power of the FBI and CIA. Surprise: we have some. But eliminating the FBI eliminates one of the checks on government malfeasance. A President or Senator who covers up criminal activity should indeed fear the FBI. Because they are tasked with taking him down when he breaks the law. (Lookin' at you, ghost of Richard N.)

By contrast, in New Russia, FSB does not arrest Putin. Putin arrests FSB!

I don't want that to be the case in the USA.

[Geoffrey W]

Re: Comey woz fired!!11

Its not so much that Comey was fired as why he was fired. Trumps spokeswoman made a statement in which she said that everyone wants the Russian investigation to end quickly and firing Comey was a step towards making that happen. Then she walked off without questions. So Comey wasn't fired for what he did last year but for what he's doing now, which is investigating the russian connections with the

Trump campaign of last year. Yet another example of the ineptitude of the current POTUS as the Streisand Effect kicks into high gear.

[Anonymous Coward]

Kapersky has done more to stop computer security threats...

..than the NSA have ever done for the population of the US

[fidodogbreath]

Re: Kapersky has done more to stop computer security threats...

AC might be onto something here.

Perhaps they're casting aspersions on Kaspersky because it interferes with NSA / CIA / FBI spyware.

[Captain DaFt]

-Five US spy bosses, and the acting FBI chief, today told the Senate intelligence committee. "Rabble rabble, paranoid babble, we think they're acting like us! Besides, that blasted software keeps catching our spyware!"-

[fidodogbreath]

Ha! Apparently Captain DaFt and I were riding the same thoughtwave...

[elDog]

I doubt the "eponymous" Eugene knows much about what is really in his product

Does Eugene personally check all the media at point of exit? He may have been a good programmer/network technician at some point in his life but right now he looks like a big front for a money-making machine.

Are all of the Kapersky computers completely walled off from the evil Internet, let alone the KGB (or whatever they're called)?

I don't trust any current US-based virus/anti-malware checker. The "state" and other big actors have their ways to infiltrate.

Multiple checkers may be better - one from Israel, one from USSR, one from USA, one from Mars. Better is to be very, very careful about what you download, what you execute. Keep long-term backups. Don't use routers and firewalls with off-the-shelf security settings. Put your important stuff in encrypted lockers. Don't trust Google/Drive, OneDrive, DropBox and clones.

Paranoia can be made fun! Don't forget, Someone Is Out to Get YOU - Especially YOU!

[Palpy]

Kaspersky, Norton, Avast, what to do --

-- to keep Windows safe?

Remember that anti-virus is reactive: heuristics are all well and good, but AV is still not very good at catching anything for which it doesn't have a signature on file.

Be sensible. You do have NoScript or similar running for all casual Internet use, don't you? You do block ads, don't you? You do have system backups that are off your network except when being refreshed? And when you go all dangerous and browse to off-smelling sites, you do use an OS on a read-only thumb drive that cannot touch your HDD, yes? And OK, use antivirus.

And no, I'm not going to say "just use Linux" because that's obviously not on the cards for most people. (Though if you danger-browse seriously you really SHOULD use a thumb-drive OS, and that is usually Linux. Or set up a hardened VM and run Windows inside that... but I find it easier to plug in a leetle metal stick, boot, and go.)

'Nuff said from me.

[Neon Teepee]

Better them than US (see what i did there)

I would rather have my info flowing to Russia than the US.

[julian.smith]

Re: Better them than US (see what i did there)

That is my take also - there is little of interest about me to the Russians or Chinese.

Western spooks (including the 13 Eyes) are somewhat more likely

Thus,

- Kaspersky

- VPN via Hong Kong

- domain host far from Stasiland

can reduce the most likely threats

Your mileage ......

[fidodogbreath]

Re: Better them than US (see what i did there)

I would rather have my info flowing to Russia than the US.

Great news! Now you can have both.

[midcapwarrior]

Senator Richard Burr (R‑VA),

Burr is not a Senator from VA.

He's from NC

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Senator Richard Burr (R‑VA),

Not that it matters. He's a senator and he has something to say. You can either agree or disagree or enter a debate, but his party and state isn't really all that relevant other than to colour the views of the reader. With the massively partisan party politics of the US, it might be better for the media NOT to show or mention the party affiliation of senators and congress-peeps when quoting or interviewing them. It'd be an interesting experiment, although the party partisanship of the media means it's unlikely to happen.

[Orv]

Re: Senator Richard Burr (R‑VA),

Party affiliation is relevant -- it's the best predictor of how they'll vote on legislation, much more predictive than what they say they'll do.

[Anonymous Coward]

Please speak into the flower pot

спасибо

[Anonymous Coward]

We can't trust Kaspersky, meanwhile this is all ok

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/14/avg_anon_data_brokering_analysis/

=================================

* * * You can always periodically download the standalone removal tool here:

https://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/thank-you/free-virus-removal-tool?form=1

=================================

* * * And supplement that with regular Web-Browser-patching + Ad-blockers + Hosts-file-filters and kill Java / Flash stone dead if possible...

[jaycee331]

I'll chance it....

I trust Kaspersky more than any US owned product subject to secret court orders for tampering.

[EnviableOne]

Re: I'll chance it....

At least US have a secret court, FSB just turn up and demand and Eugine has to comply.

I work with patching from denmark, and detection from UK

[Version 1.0]

Re: I'll chance it....

Kaspersky is good but I don't think it's any different that any other AV product in that it's going to roll over and be a good dog when the powers that be suggest that it could ignore a specific attack.

Most attacks come through attachments via the mail server - the most effective approach is to ban all email attachments except the ones you need ... and even then, be very suspicious/paranoid. It always pays off.

[martinusher]

A dirty word in NSA-land

Kaspersky is not popular among the US intelligence community because they've been in the forefront of uncovering NSA sponsored hacking tools. Their stuff works well which is another reason for dissing it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, that's pretending at its finest..

Please, please , look at this Russian company so you look away from our Russian controlled president, quick!

Two quick questions for Trump & co:

1 - if there is nothing to this whole Russia thing and all is well and rosy, why don't you just let the investigation play out instead of actively interfering? What are you hiding?

2 - if it doesn't yield any results (which I really doubt, given the intel from as far away as the UK), will you run this investigation 10 times too like you forced the Clinton email one?

As for Kaspersky, I met Eugene Kaspersky for a private conversation in Paris and I personally cannot picture him as a government stooge, the man's got character and a backbone. Adding to the personal impression is the knowledge of events a few years ago where Kaspersky got itself into a major argument with Russian as well as other law enforcement agencies for refusing to label their spyware as "safe", which is something you can probably still find online.

So no, I'm not buying it. Besides, if you really want to go after Kaspersky you should start with the company that enabled them, Microsoft, they wouldn't exist without Microsoft still doing a shockingly bad job at security, still. But they are American, no? Oops..

[fidodogbreath]

Re: Wow, that's pretending at its finest..

I met Eugene Kaspersky for a private conversation in Paris and I personally cannot picture him as a government stooge

I have no idea whether these Kaspersky allegations are true; but as a general rule, spies don't act like spies. That's kind of their thing.

[PTW]

Coats is something else begining with 'c'

So now any 'unauthorised access' needs 'authorisation' from the highest level? WTaF are these people on?

And by his logic Lauri Love, et al are all under Russian control?

[Stevie]

Bah!

OPOTUS should have asked when he had TASS in the oval office doing the press coverage of his meeting with the Russian ambassador.

And no US press.

[JJKing]

My virus protection

Ok, this should make you all laugh. All I have on my systems are Microsoft Security Essentials and a full version of Malwarebytes and I have never been infected in the past 8+ years. Even better, my Facebork clicking wife's machine has also not been infected in the past 6 years tough Malwarebytes seems to do the heavy lifting in stopping infected web pages from loading.

[Bob Dole (tm)]

Re: My virus protection

It's amazing how clean machines are when you never look.

[Anonymous Coward]

Пшёл на хуй, блядь

Google translates:

Fuck you, fuck.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Пшёл на хуй, блядь

Show that you can't trust google translate too much.

It actually means: Suck my cock, whore.

[Anonymous Coward]

False Equivalence

The fact that many American institutions are morally bankrupt and driven by partisan self-interest makes it acceptable to promote Russia which is recognized as an outlaw nation whose leaders have direct ties to organized crime. At least, in the U.S. we're still more likely to have to endure partisan bickering and back biting than to be simply shot down in the streets if we disagree with our political leaders. That advantage may be short lived, however, as Drumpf seems intent on a banana-republic-style power grab in the not too distant future. He is, after all, 70 and he's probably the only person that thinks Drumpf will live forever.

[Anonymous Coward]

I used Kaspersky software a decade ago - and trusted it.

Now - NOT.

KGB creep - FU*K him and his Putin suckers buddies.

wb