Kaspersky US Customers Migrate to Pango’s UltraAV After Ban – Source: www.databreachtoday.com

Kaspersky Hands Off 1 Million US Customers to UltraAV Amid Government Software Ban

Michael Novinson (MichaelNovinson) •
September 5, 2024    

U.S. customers of blacklisted Russian cybersecurity antivirus provider Kaspersky who didn’t already swap out providers now know where they’ll be getting endpoint protection going forward.

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The Moscow-based company’s remaining 1 million U.S. antivirus customers will be moved to UltraAV, the antivirus product of Boston-based Pango Group, which separated Tuesday from online safety vendor Aura. The migration comes in response to a Department of Commerce ban on Kaspersky sales in the United States, which would have stopped software updates for American customers by the end of September (see: Biden Administration Bans Kaspersky Antivirus Software).

“Facing the recent U.S. restrictions forcing Kaspersky to limit protection functionality of its products, the company has arranged a solution,” Kaspersky told Information Security Media Group in an emailed statement. “While U.S. persons were left with one less choice in defending themselves against online threats, we are committed to ensuring that they continue to be served by a world class provider.”

UltraAV offers features including a VPN, password manager and identity theft protection in addition to antivirus defense, according to Kaspersky. Financial terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed, said Axios, which first reported the deal.

“Those things that they do need to be aware of and need to know, we’ll lay out for them in a series of email communications and then we also have our customer support team ramped up and ready to assist,” Pango President and Chief Operating Officer Neill Feather told Axios. A Pango spokesperson confirmed the veracity of the Axios report to ISMG.

How UltraAV’s Pricing, Features Compare With Kaspersky

UltraAV has several features that Kaspersky’s antivirus product lacks, such as real-time authentication alerts, high-risk transaction monitoring and $1 million identity theft insurance, which limits the risk of identify fraud. The product lacks Kaspersky’s capabilities for webcam and online payment protection, which thwart access to users’ webcams and prevent credit card details from being accessed.

By mid-September, Windows users will automatically transition from Kaspersky to UltraAV without any action needed by the user, a Pango spokesperson told ISMG. Mac and Android users will receive an email containing a setup link, where they’ll follow onboarding steps to transfer user subscription data. There’s no change in price for customers, who will keep their existing pricing plans tied to Kaspersky.

Customers who repurchase UltraAV with all the features provided in their Kaspersky account will pay $47.88 for their first year and then renew at the full price of $149.99, according to an FAQ posted to the UltraAV website. Kaspersky stopped billing monthly and annual customers in the U.S. in June 2024, and billing with UltraAV will resume for those customers in October 2024.

How We Got Here

The U.S. government’s decision to halt Kaspersky’s in-country operations was driven by concerns about potential Russian government access to user data, an allegation the company has strongly denied. Kaspersky was officially banned from U.S. federal government networks in 2017, and more recently, the Biden administration extended the ban to include all U.S. commercial sales, citing national security risks.

A year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kaspersky executives came under financial sanctions, further curbing the company’s ability to operate in the U.S. and highlighting fears of misuse by Russian state actors. After the ban on commercial software sales, Kaspersky announced plans to shut down its U.S. business and laid off the fewer than 50 employee still remaining in the country (see: Kaspersky to Shut US Business, Lay Off Remaining 50 Workers).

Kaspersky’s presence in the U.S. has shrunk over the last several years due to government restrictions and decreasing customer trust. By 2022, only 4% of U.S. paid antivirus users were opting for Kaspersky, well behind competitors such as Norton, McAfee and Malwarebytes, according to Security.org. With the U.S. ban in place, Kaspersky plans to focus on growth areas such as Russia, Central Asia and Latin America.