Barclays stop free Kaspersky offer

[mike6688]

Barclays has stopped offering free Kaspersky anti-virus products to new customers following an official warning about Russian security software.

The bank emailed 290,000 online banking customers on Saturday to say the move was a "precautionary decision".

UK cyber-security chiefs are warning government departments not to use software from Russian companies for systems relating to national security.

Barclays said it treated the security of its customers "very seriously".

A spokesman for Kaspersky said it was "disappointed" that Barclays had discontinued its offer to new customers.

The National Cyber Security Centre - the UK's authority on cyber security and part of GCHQ - is writing to all government departments telling them Russian security software could be exploited by the Kremlin.

But officials stressed they were not saying members of the public or companies should stop using Kaspersky products, which are used by about 400 million people globally.

Barclays told customers it would no longer offer free Kaspersky software "following the information that's been shared in the news" - but advised people with the software already installed that they did not need to take any action.

It wrote: "The UK government has been advised... to remove any Russian products from all highly sensitive systems classified as secret or above.

"We've made the precautionary decision to no longer offer Kaspersky software to new users.

"However, there's nothing to suggest that customers need to stop using Kaspersky."

Disappointingly Barclays have now stopped their offer of free Kaspersky Internet Security for their customers in the U.K. I had been taking advantage of this offer and Kaspersky has performed flawlessly. But, now looks like I might have to look elsewhere or buy a licence for Kaspersky.

 

[Deleted member 65228]

Kaspersky is fine, purchase a license if you like it.

 

[Aleeyen]

UK always follows US.

 

[Vasudev]

UK always follows US.

Maybe because they are "united"

 

[Andytay70]

tit for tat.

 

[aragornnnn]

Oh lord, the fire has flared up again

 

[upnorth]

Quote : " The British spy agency GCHQ is concerned about Kaspersky Lab’s antivirus software being used to spy on people in the U.K., according to a new report.

On Sunday, the Financial Times quoted unnamed officials as saying GCHQ was particularly worried that Barclays has given millions of its banking customers free Kaspersky subscriptions. If those customers happen to work for the British military or government, the spooks fear, Kaspersky’s software might help the Russian intelligence services gain access to their information.

Quote " However, Western agencies’ concerns over Kaspersky have sometimes extended beyond the defensive. Some of the NSA documents leaked by agency whistleblower Edward Snowden showed that GCHQ was desperate to figure out how Kaspersky’s products worked, because they hampered GCHQ’s own ability to hack into computers protected by those products. "

Source : U.K. Spies Are Worried About the Kaspersky Software That Barclays Gave Its Customers for Free

23/05/2015. Quote : " US and British spy agencies worked to reverse-engineer antivirus software in order to " exploit such software and to prevent detection of our activities. " Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab was particularly targeted. "

 

[Aleeyen]

So, all this is being done to make the citizens vulnerable to their own governmental spying activities; so much for politicians.

 

[dinosaur07]

Kaspersky`s market share representing smart/intelligent people will grow up after this article thanks to the US & UK gov.

 

[mike6688]

I have 200 days left of my licence so will stick with Kaspersky until it runs out. I actually trust Kaspersky more since all this news has broke because I can see what a great job the software does, and understand how it works. Shame Barclays can’t see this.
I tweeted Barclays and they said they are now looking to get a new antivirus partner to replace Kaspersky. Just hope it’s somethikg decent, although few come close Kaspersky

 

[BigWrench]

Kaspersky`s market share representing smart/intelligent people will grow up after this article thanks to the US & UK gov.

Yes it will!

 

[Arequire]

"Beyond this relatively small number of systems, we see no compelling case at present to extend that advice to the wider public sector, more general enterprises, or individuals," Mr Levy said.

"Whatever you do, don't panic.

"For example, we really don't want people doing things like ripping out Kaspersky software at large as it makes little sense."

Nice to see a reasonable response for once, especially from a spook.

 

[Antimalware18]

U.K usually follows what U.S does so ultimately just more scare tactics by the good ol' U.S of A

 

[Weebarra]

I was quite saddened to read this a few days ago and i thought it was completely irresponsible of the GCHQ spokesman to even issue such a statement when there is no evidence of any wrongdoing (yet again) by Kaspersky and then to follow up with the "don't panic" statement. What is wrong with the UK, don't they have a mind of their own ? Yayy, the US have done it so why don't we become sheep and do the same ...... bleeping fools

 

[upnorth]

The fun part IMO is that the UK nags on Kaspersky when they have a real case scenario with DJI that's actually a genuine issue but ofcourse better to point fingers on others then themself.

Also scroll down to Similar Threads for some more interesting read on Barclays...

...

Now the Homeland Security also joined in on the DJI issue. UK's law enforcement and even military extensively use DJI drones.

DHS: Drone Maker "Likely" Helping China Spy on US