• Steve LeVine covers foreign affairs for Business Week. He previously was correspondent for Central Asia and the Caucasus for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for 11 years. His first book, The Oil and the Glory, a history of the former Soviet Union through the lens of oil, was published in October 2007. Putin’s Labyrinth, his new book, profiles Russia through the lives and deaths of six Russians. The updated paperback was released in April 2009.



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    A Blog on Russia, Energy, the Caspian and
    Beyond

    Wednesday, April 9, 2008

    Russia's Anti-Virus Champion

    When I bought my laptop a year ago, the sales guy suggested I install Internet security software I hadn't heard of from a company called Kaspersky. I'd used McAfee for years, but I also knew from my time in the former Soviet Union that some of the most virulent viruses, and the best virus killers, came out of Moscow. So I did.

    I like Kaspersky. I've had no trouble (as far as I know at least) over the last year. And I see in a dog-and-pony show put on by the company in January that its co-founder, 42-year-old Yevgeni Kaspersky, is a fairly ambitious and colorful guy.

    But, if my latest experience is any indicator, the company is having some growing pains. When I tried to renew the service last week, I couldn't get Kaspersky to respond to two emails. When I turned to the phone, I was on hold for almost an hour before I gave up. I finally got a response when emailed the media contact, saying that I wanted to do this -- write up a piece for the blog. Rapidly I was contacted not by one, but two Kaspersky people, and provided precisely the right link to get renewed. Kaspersky's representative claimed to have responded to one of the emails and not to have received the second. Whatever. Kaspersky isn't the only company with a communications problem.

    I did renew. It's good software.

    Photo: David Orban
    Rights: Creative Commons

    Labels: , , , ,

    posted by Steve at 2:26 PM

    2 Comments:

    Blogger Brian Hayes said...

    I've tinkered with PCs since kits were wrapped in poly bags with stapled labels.

    A few technicians have authored advice, kept integrity, and stood up to challenges.

    Try Scott,
    http://blog.scotsnewsletter.com/about/

    And Livingston,
    http://windowssecrets.com

    And Bruce Schneier,
    http://www.schneier.com

    April 13, 2008 3:02 AM  
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I follow wilders, av-comparatives, virusbulletin and the discussion that rages on about 0-day ITW, non-zoo samples and rootkits prevailing.

    Yes, Kaspersky can be a good choice.

    Until you hit one of their oddities, like the service.

    Personally I've been burned by their application, which turned itself completely off (again and again) and didn't warn the user.

    So I was using the Internet, downloading software and had an idea that I was at least protected against the major threads, and I wasn't.

    This is inexcusable for a security software company.

    If you want to know how AV suites do, keep watching AV-comparatives half-yearly and checking how products have changes in their standing. It tells a lot.

    Regs, Antti K

    PS KAV is much more known in Europe. There is a general theory in the 'circles' that KAV never made it in the North America, because they didn't pay off Ziff/Softbank through millions in advertising. My theory is that they didn't make it, because they are incompetent in achieving it :)

    April 13, 2008 6:50 AM  

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