Kaspersky Refutes BitSight Claims on Downturn in Technology Use

Kaspersky says its product usage rates remain 'within the usual range'.

Kaspersky has dismissed claims about a global reduction in use of its products following the U.S government ban.

Earlier this week, a blog post by Bitsight said that despite the decision by the U.S. government to ban Kaspersky from providing its products to the American market, the country remains Kaspersky’s largest customer.

Prevalent

Bitsight said that active use of Kaspersky products remains prevalent within the US nearly three months after the ban went into effect. Of the U.S. companies using the software before the prohibition, 40 percent of organisations are still using Kaspersky products.

It also said that the ban has had a significant impact on global usage of Kaspersky, with dramatic decreases in usage observed in organisations operating in countries that do not have formal bans on Kaspersky technology.

Specifically, BitSight said in April 2024 it was observing a pattern of nearly 22,000 global organisations and over seven million unique IP addresses communicating monthly with Kaspersky update servers. However as of the end of November 2024, those numbers have dropped to 8,000 global organizations and two million unique IP addresses.

Allegations

In a statement sent to SC UK, Kaspersky said it has examined the allegations and based on Kaspersky’s own statistics regarding update server visits, as well as data from the Kaspersky Security Network, the company refutes the article’s claims.

“Apart from the United States, Kaspersky’s product usage rates remain within the usual range,” it said. “Kaspersky continues to maintain full transparency and remains open to further independent verification of its data and methodologies.”

Final Determination

In the June statement from the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security, it announced a “Final Determination prohibiting Kaspersky Lab, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of a Russia-based anti-virus software and cybersecurity company, from directly or indirectly providing anti-virus software and cybersecurity products or services in the United States or to U.S. persons.”

The prohibition also applies to Kaspersky’s affiliates, subsidiaries and parent companies, and the ban went into effect on September 29th, 2024. BitSight said that the U.S. is one of the only countries to ban Kaspersky usage in the public and private sectors, with some other countries either banning or restricting the use of Kaspersky from government devices or national security department usage, or issuing warnings against using Kaspersky software in public and private sectors.

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