Germany's Cyber Authority Tells Public to Stop Using Kaspersky Antivirus
The war in Ukraine and Russia’s threats to NATO have prompted Germany to warn its citizens against using Kaspersky’s antivirus software.
On Tuesday, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) issued an alert that urges people in the country to swap Kaspersky antivirus for another security product. Kaspersky is headquartered in Russia and has long faced allegations that it has ties to the Kremlin.
The BSI’s main worry is that Putin’s regime will compel Kaspersky to conduct surveillance and other malicious activities against its customers to help in the war effort.
In an FAQ, the BSI writes: “The warlike actions of Russia as well as the threats made against the EU, NATO, and the Federal Republic of Germany harbor a considerable risk of a successful IT attack, which could have far-reaching consequences. It cannot currently be ruled out that the company will be forced against its will to attack systems or pass on confidential data.”
Kaspersky is pushing back against the warning, calling the accusations unfounded. “We believe this decision is not based on a technical assessment of Kaspersky products—that we continuously advocated for with the BSI and across Europe—but instead is being made on political grounds,” the company said in a statement.
Indeed, the warning from Germany’s BSI offers no technical evidence that shows Kaspersky products are a threat. Nevertheless, the government agency said it couldn’t “rule out” the risk of a Russian-sponsored cyberattack arriving through the company’s products, particularly for corporations and critical infrastructure operators in Germany.
The problem is that antivirus software possesses “extensive system authorizations,” the BSI says, which could make the products a
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