The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has issued a security warning against virus protection products from the manufacturer Kaspersky. The BSI recommends users to replace Kaspersky software with alternatives. We explain the BSI report, show you how to remove Kaspersky software and have alternatives ready.
With the attack on the Ukraine, IT security issues again came into focus in Germany. Security products from the Russian provider Kaspersky are particularly well known and widespread. We recently analyzed the question of whether Kaspersky products need to be removed now. Our conclusion at the time: If you want to make a political statement, you have a large selection of alternatives, but from a security perspective we saw no reason to advise against Kaspersky software. But we now have to correct this assessment.
The reason is an official warning from the BSI, which specifically advises against using Kaspersky products. This affects companies, authorities and private users.
Remove Kaspersky antivirus
BSI warns against Kaspersky virus protection
In its warning about Kaspersky products, the BSI refers to Section 7 of the BSI law. It says that the BSI may also explicitly warn about security products. In the case of Kaspersky, the BSI advises replacing the manufacturer’s products with alternatives.
The BSI explains that “anti-virus software must have extensive system authorizations and, due to the system, must maintain a permanent, encrypted and non-verifiable connection to the manufacturer’s servers. Therefore, trust in the reliability and self-protection of a manufacturer as well as his authentic ability to act is decisive for the secure use of such Systems. If there are doubts about the reliability of the manufacturer, virus protection software poses a particular risk for an IT infrastructure to be protected”.
It also states that a Russian IT manufacturer can either conduct offensive operations itself or be forced against its will to attack target systems. In addition, as a victim of a cyber operation, he could be spied on without his knowledge or used as a tool for attacks against his own customers.
That’s what Kaspersky says about the BSI warning
CHIP asked Kaspersky and they are of the opinion that it is not a technical, but a purely political decision by the BSI. It continues: “We will continue to convince our partners and customers of the quality and integrity of our products and are working with the BSI to clarify the decision and address the concerns of the BSI and other regulatory authorities.”
In addition, Kaspersky again mentions the various points that have been realized in recent years:
- Relocation of the server infrastructure to Switzerland
- External audit of data services
- ISO 27001 certification of data centers
- Insight into documentation for secure software development
- Insight into the source code of the software
- Checking all software builds and AV database updates as well as those of Kaspersky Security Network;
- Source code rebuild
How to remove Kaspersky software
The BSI writes that private users can also be affected by such operations, companies and authorities with special security interests and operators of critical infrastructures are of course particularly affected. Basically, when installing a new virus scanner, an existing protection is at least deactivated, but often also removed.
Of course, there is also a special tool for removing Kaspersky software. But of course the Kaspersky Lab Products Remover also comes from Kaspersky. Of course, removing software that you no longer trust with software from the same manufacturer is not a good idea.
You can either uninstall the software directly from Windows settings, or you can use third-party tools that make removing software that little bit more convenient.
These alternatives exist
For home users on Windows, the obvious solution is to simply use Windows Defender. It’s good overall and doesn’t cost anything. In our list of the best, you will find plenty of other alternatives to Kaspersky, such as test winner McAfee or Norton with the best protection in the test. Both require annual subscription fees.
If it is to remain free, the structurally identical solutions from Avast and AVG stand out. Compared to Windows Defender, they offer better protection and are not as demanding on the system.