Advice Request Need a final opinion on Kaspersky's spying scandal

[geek166]

The only thing that stops me from seriously considering kaspersky's product is it's russian spying scandal that was reported few years back.

The internet seems to be highly divided on this and so iam unable to form an informed opinion on this. Some say it was a smear campaign and kaspersky's ties with russian govt were never proven. Others say the accusations have basis and kaspersky's explanation is not convincing enough. So if someone confirm it's trustworthiness (or lack of) with supporting data/reports, that would help to make an informed decision.

I have alternate options to consider in the form of bitdefender or norton but it would be my 1st choice if i could only come to trust it (i understand windows defender has improved a lot but still would prefer one of the above 3 AV's).

 

[Shadowra]

Hello,

Kaspersky's accusations have never been proven.
I once posted links on the forum, and especially dismantled the arguments, I invite you to read this: Q&A - Is Kaspersky trustable?

(I was using Kaspersky before F-Secure, I never noticed any strange behavior)

 

[Antig]

I came to this section quite accidentally,but I am really impressed by your being 'confused' about this Kaspersky affair,a couple of years old anyway,dear geek166.
I use KIS since four years and find it really great,probably the best I ever used since the days of AVG in 2001.
At Cheltenham in the UK thousands worked since the 70s listening to all telecommunications in the entire world,but this did not deter me from buying Macrium,as one should not be detered from buying Norton because of Ghislaine,I guess.....
Never heard what Google,Facebook,Instagram,Twitter etc. know about you and your habits?

 

[ScandinavianFish]

Never heard whag Google,Facebook,Instagram,Twitter etc. know about you and your habits?

Exactly, its just because the US government saw it as an opportunity to throw dirt on Russia, just twisting it in a way it to fit their narrative of not trusting the Russian government

 

[Local Host]

There was never proof of foul play by Kaspersky (USA never provided any evidence for their claims), the USA accusations were discredited by EU own investigation, that is enough for me to keep using Kasperksy.

 

[peterfat11]

I would say that even if Kaspersky is spying on you they are not the only ones...

 

[superssjdan]

I'm way more worried about what my own government does to us without our knowledge than anything any foreign entity may do. I've been using Kaspersky on at least 1 machine since the beginning. I cant think of a single valid reason to change that. As a matter of fact, i'd feel totally comfortable using it on any machine and in pretty much any scenario. The Russian govt has far better things to do than spy on everyday US citizens.

 

[icarus]

The only thing that stops me from seriously considering kaspersky's product is it's russian spying scandal that was reported few years back.

The internet seems to be highly divided on this and so iam unable to form an informed opinion on this. Some say it was a smear campaign and kaspersky's ties with russian govt were never proven. Others say the accusations have basis and kaspersky's explanation is not convincing enough. So if someone confirm it's trustworthiness (or lack of) with supporting data/reports, that would help to make an informed decision.

I have alternate options to consider in the form of bitdefender or norton but it would be my 1st choice if i could only come to trust it (i understand windows defender has improved a lot but still would prefer one of the above 3 AV's).

stay away from company with bad rep on privacy like kaspersky and trendmicro and make youre mind clear because if you install it youre mind never let you have a peace
because of those bad news you know about them

 

[ScandinavianFish]

stay away from company with bad rep on privacy like kaspersky and trendmicro and make youre mind clear because if you install it youre mind never let you have a peace
because of those bad news you know about them

Staying away from just an company wont help when its the government that forces them to spy

 

[Tutman]

Kaspersky acutally was just doing it's job and found a spy tool from the U.S. government on a Fed (employee's) PC that had KSN turned on that he shouldn't have. There was NOTHING nefarious about it. It just made the CIA or FBI look bad. It checked the reputation of the hack tool that OUR own government had made. We got caught with our pants down as the saying goes. LOL.

 

[plat]

This scandal, true or not, must have hit Kaspersky at its core; they are very earnest in redeeming the reputation to this day. There are now five "transparency centers" located around the world, incl. one in New Brunswick, Canada. I read that the others are in Zurich, Kuala Lumpur, Sao Paolo and Madrid.

Kaspersky opens doors to new Transparency Center in North America

The opening marks the fifth center opened globally, fulfilling a key milestone within the Global Transparency Initiative

usa.kaspersky.com

 

[geek166]

I came to this section quite accidentally,but I am really impressed by your being 'confused' about this Kaspersky affair,a couple of years old anyway,dear geek166.
I use KIS since four years and find it really great,probably the best I ever used since the days of AVG in 2001.
At Cheltenham in the UK thousands worked since the 70s listening to all telecommunications in the entire world,but this did not deter me from buying Macrium,as one should not be detered from buying Norton because of Ghislaine,I guess.....
Never heard what Google,Facebook,Instagram,Twitter etc. know about you and your habits?

I was researching on which AV to buy recently when i came upon this info about kaspersky. No doubt KIS is very good at what it does but i was only asking about it's trustworthiness but my concerns have been allayed to some extent with the replies.

The concerns about google and facebook data colelction are different than the concern with KIS. There is an adage 'if you don't buy a product, then you are likely the product' for ecommerce companies (do you know the avast data collection scandal - it happened to users of avast free AV who were reluctant to spend on an AV). The data collection & profiling by google, facebook, etc is extensive but that is only to show targeted ads. But an AV can gather any kind of data from your PC if it really wants to. So concerns on unneeded data collecction by an AV and that by google is not exactly an apple to apple comparison.

 

[show-Zi]

I find it difficult to prove a perfectly clean condition without any doubt. The most difficult thing is to get rid of your suspicion.
My guess is that you want to use Kaspersky but are a little worried about espionage rumors. It's like feeling when you've heard bad rumors about the opposite sex you're probably thinking of dating.

I think Kaspersky should be chosen. Spy scandals probably no one can draw a definitive conclusion.
Rumors and speculation are only suspicious, but the praise and appreciation of many are true.

 

[Antig]

geek166, I think your stance about this matter is a bit naive,maybe too naive to be true, maybe you just want to revive a dead subject.

 

[Freki123]

My question would be which operating system can you trust in the first place?

Edit: Since you asked for slander

Microsoft gives NSA backdoor, complains about exploits

Microsoft is angry over leaked NSA exploits, blasts US spy agencies like NSA and CIA.

www.tweaktown.com

The point I wanted to make was: If you can't review software yourself at some point you either have to trust them or don't (the choice is always yours).
With that I'm out here good luck whatever you decide to do

 

[geek166]

maybe you just want to revive a dead subject.

Not interested in reviving this, I already got enough info..... I was just replying to your yesterday's post, you replied to a topic that was dead for several weeks

My question would be which operating system can you trust in the first place?

Why, have you ever come across any slandering info on MS or apple?

 

[SpiderWeb]

They said they don't cooperate with the FSB. And to prove that they don't they promised to cooperate with the FBI... They also handed over all of their source code to the NSA to prove that they don't have a backdoor but very convenient for the NSA to make its own backdoors now that they got the whole code. I would stay on the safe side. Israeli intelligence has also shown that they can tap into KSN to find people's files which really made me wake up to how problematic cloud scanning is. You give a program system level permissions to upload whatever files you have to some unsecured server somewhere for automated analysis. No guarantee that the file is safe, no guarantee that private information is stripped, no guarantee that the file gets deleted after.

To me Kaspersky is as trustworthy as TrendMicro, McAfee, Norton with the cryptominer, etc. Just questionable that these companies make money solely off virus protection and are not considering switching to data mining. AVs are amazing data mining tools at this point.

 

[ScandinavianFish]

AVs are amazing data mining tools at this point.

I mean, thats what they are at this point, while it has a lot to do with malware evolving, your AV now has among, if not the, highest privelege out of any application on your system, only rootkits rival their level of integration with the system, Avast is an perfect example of what an AV gone rogue can do, selling user data to third parties and spying on its users surfing habits, not different to other big tech companies like Microsoft, Google. etc, they have spyware and adware, the very things they swore to destroy, especially as most come with useless snake oil stuff like "optimizers", VPN's, etc, which they have to use lies and misleading claims to actually sell, and their agressive advertising alone makes me consider them PUP/PUA's, its why I have lost almost all trust in AV's, no matter if they have an controversial history or not, especially as they have never been needed to protect yourself.

 

[Antig]

Unfortunately the situation is like depicted by SpiderWeb and Scandinavian Fish, and getting worse by the minute.

 

[Chuck57]

This American is at the point that if my govt tells me to avoid (name a company) because they're spying, I'll take it with a huge grain of salt. They're one of the worst offenders in the world right now.

I recall the talk about Kaspersky and blew it off, then a couple of years ago we were warned about WPS Office, and that we shouldn't use it because it was spying for the Chinese. I now use it and have found nothing suspicious calling out.

Frankly, I'm more annoyed by Microsoft and what it's collecting about me than most other softwares, and the FBI - Famous But Incompetent.