App Review Kaspersky Security Cloud Free Tested 8.1.20

It is advised to take all reviews with a grain of salt. In extreme cases some reviews use dramatization for entertainment purposes.

MacDefender

Level 16
Verified
Top Poster
Oct 13, 2019
779
Almost makes you wonder what is the catch with KSC Free? Sure it lacks some bells and whistles but this level of protection gives a lot of paid products a run for their money. It doesn’t seem like there’s any ad-ware or any of the privacy policy being different compared to the paid products. What am I missing?
 

SeriousHoax

Level 47
Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,630
Almost makes you wonder what is the catch with KSC Free? Sure it lacks some bells and whistles but this level of protection gives a lot of paid products a run for their money. It doesn’t seem like there’s any ad-ware or any of the privacy policy being different compared to the paid products. What am I missing?
Maybe their main intention for this free AV, free anti-ransomware tools is to collect as much data as they can. I mean not users personal data rather everything related to improving threat detection, response, system performance. As you already know Kaspersky monitors and collects literally everything of your system. How it behaves, usage pattern, changes, activities, everything. Having this free versions means they'll be able to have more data, better response to new threats, etc. I could be wrong but to me it seems Kaspersky not as popular as its competitors in the Endpoint section. Microsoft ATP, CrowdStrike, Pal Alto, SentinelOne even something like Trend Micro, ESET is more popular then Kaspersky in the Endpoint market. So they're trying to improve in that sectors as well by collecting all the data they can to improve their product.
It's just my guess, not based on any evidence.
 

Bryan320

Level 8
Oct 11, 2019
293
Almost makes you wonder what is the catch with KSC Free? Sure it lacks some bells and whistles but this level of protection gives a lot of paid products a run for their money. It doesn’t seem like there’s any ad-ware or any of the privacy policy being different compared to the paid products. What am I missing?
I have a feeling after the US banned Kaspersky they just wanted to troll them by giving it away for free lol.
 

MacDefender

Level 16
Verified
Top Poster
Oct 13, 2019
779
Maybe their main intention for this free AV, free anti-ransomware tools are to collect as much data as they can. I mean not users personal data rather everything related to improving threat detection, response, system performance. As you already know Kaspersky monitors and collects literally everything of your system. How it behaves, usage pattern, changes, activities, everything. Having this free versions means they'll be able to have more data, better response to new threats, etc. I could be wrong but to me it seems Kaspersky not as popular as its competitors in the Endpoint section. Microsoft ATP, CrowdStrike, Pal Alto, SentinelOne even something like Trend Micro, ESET is more popular then Kaspersky in the Endpoint market. So they're trying to improve in that sectors as well by collecting all the data they can to improve their product.
It's just my guess, not based on any evidence.
That’s definitely a good theory. As we’ve seen with WD and others, the more data they can collect, the better the whole fleet is protected. It’s great for us as customers but seemingly not great for them as a business — what I want is basically the KSC Free level of features. Application Control is a cool add-on and the password manager and other stuff is totally lost on me.

But they might be walking a risky line for them business-wise -- as a paying KTS customer, if my license expired today, I honestly might just go for KSC Free!
 

Cortex

Level 26
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Aug 4, 2016
1,465
Great result there from K - Shows how good protection can be had for absolutely nothing (not counting your data) - Also how we can overkill our system protection, I know I'm guilty of that but I do try to restrain myself - Security cloud will likely be the protection I use/recommend on others PC's assuming they don't have another product
 

EndangeredPootis

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Sep 8, 2019
461
TBH all this fuzz about data collection should not be such a big deal, almost every program needs data collection in order to work and be improved, yes, some of that data will eventually be used for less than good purposes, but ill happily give away some of my privacy knowing that millions of other users will be better protected.

You cant escape data collection, no matter where you go, all you can do is go with reputable software which respects their user privacy atleast to some extent as to not use the data they collect for nefarious purposes.
 
Last edited:

SeriousHoax

Level 47
Well-known
Mar 16, 2019
3,630
That’s definitely a good theory. As we’ve seen with WD and others, the more data they can collect, the better the whole fleet is protected. It’s great for us as customers but seemingly not great for them as a business — what I want is basically the KSC Free level of features. Application Control is a cool add-on and the password manager and other stuff is totally lost on me.

But they might be walking a risky line for them business-wise -- as a paying KTS customer, if my license expired today, I honestly might just go for KSC Free!
I agree. The quality of protection you get from Kaspersky free is really impressive for a free AV. Application Control is great, but I bet 90% users don't make any change on Application control so its not really needed for most users. Kaspersky free all alone is more than enough. Many paid users may switch to free instead of renewing their license. But Kaspersky surely still gets profit out of it. All the grayed out options in the UI surely makes many users switch to the paid versions.
 

Moonhorse

Level 37
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
May 29, 2018
2,602
So who else noticed CIS running in the background?

Yes KasperSky is great. For a free solution its protection is outstanding.

Was also impressed with Emsisoft's detection rate. Seems to be a better second opinion scanner than the rest.
More like comodo killswitch. Emsisoft is great and zemana is dead....aswell this is version 20 on the video, kaspersky 21 came out few days ago
 

fabiobr

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 28, 2019
561
Maybe their main intention for this free AV, free anti-ransomware tools is to collect as much data as they can. I mean not users personal data rather everything related to improving threat detection, response, system performance. As you already know Kaspersky monitors and collects literally everything of your system. How it behaves, usage pattern, changes, activities, everything. Having this free versions means they'll be able to have more data, better response to new threats, etc. I could be wrong but to me it seems Kaspersky not as popular as its competitors in the Endpoint section. Microsoft ATP, CrowdStrike, Pal Alto, SentinelOne even something like Trend Micro, ESET is more popular then Kaspersky in the Endpoint market. So they're trying to improve in that sectors as well by collecting all the data they can to improve their product.
It's just my guess, not based on any evidence.
Exactly, to me it seems they're trying to enhance their Advanced Persistant Threat detection, to create a different product on the endpoint market. Their strong point is zero-day and target threats.

But ESET is still bigger in this market, which I think it's because lightness (very important) and granular settings, and Kaspersky is trying another approach focused on ATPs.
 

fabiobr

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 28, 2019
561
That’s definitely a good theory. As we’ve seen with WD and others, the more data they can collect, the better the whole fleet is protected. It’s great for us as customers but seemingly not great for them as a business — what I want is basically the KSC Free level of features. Application Control is a cool add-on and the password manager and other stuff is totally lost on me.

But they might be walking a risky line for them business-wise -- as a paying KTS customer, if my license expired today, I honestly might just go for KSC Free!
I think Kaspersky knows that their paid products is used mainly by advanced users, that's why HIPS is the main paid feature.

HIPS is little used for average user that just wanna use his PC.
 

fabiobr

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 28, 2019
561
If you see the market strategy, their trying to sell them to the home users as a "gamer" product, trying to erase their old image of a heavy AV.

And I really asked myself how Kaspersky has so much money to do this marketing, here in Brazil they paid big YouTube hardware channels to test their "gaming mode". I don't know if in other countries is the same thing, or the other AVs marketing is weak here in Brazil.

Kaspersky is known here in Brazil as a "top advanced suite", like "geek person uses Kaspersky", since 2008 when it's became famous with ESET NOD32. But I imagine in the rest of the world Kaspersky has some old "heavy" famous, maybe, because its old versions.

Since that age, Avast and Kaspersky is pretty famous here in Brazil. When Kaspersky launched free version, I saw that feeling of a "top advanced product" being avaible for the average user, a lot of computer techs start to installing Kaspersky on clients PCs instead of Avast.

Coming back to marketing, if you see, Kaspersky doesn't even tell it has a free product, if you open the pages you see only their paid products.

I tell my friend to install Kaspersky, he opened the site and asked me "Is that paid? I'm not gonna pay..." and I have to send to him the exact link.

And it's a trade: I know recommending Kaspersky to my friends its going to collect more data, and I'm gonna be more and more protected HAHAHA
 

fabiobr

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Mar 28, 2019
561
TBH all this fuzz about data collection should not be such a big deal, almost every program needs data collection in order to work and be improved, yes, some of that data will eventually be used for less than good purposes, but ill happily give away some of my privacy knowing that millions of other users will be better protected.

You cant escape data collection, no matter where you go, all you can do is go with reputable software which respects their user privacy atleast to some extent as to not use the data they collect for nefarious purposes.
Yeah, I like to balance: Some data to the US, some data to Russia and China. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
 

About us

  • MalwareTips is a community-driven platform providing the latest information and resources on malware and cyber threats. Our team of experienced professionals and passionate volunteers work to keep the internet safe and secure. We provide accurate, up-to-date information and strive to build a strong and supportive community dedicated to cybersecurity.

User Menu

Follow us

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to know first about the latest cybersecurity incidents and malware threats.

Top