It was an unusual step: as early as March 15, Stiftung Warentest withdrew the test quality rating from test winner Kaspersky. The reason given was the Russian attack on Ukraine. With this, Stiftung Warentest even anticipated the BSI’s warning.
The test article “Antivirus programs in the test – test results for 29 antivirus programs 03/2022” can be found on the website of the Stiftung Wartentest. In this test, Kaspersky almost only took first place with its protection software for end users. According to the test, Kaspersky Internet Security was the only Windows program to receive a grade of 1,5 and thus a “very good”. It also took first place among the free programs. And the Mac version also shared first place with another product. As early as March 1, Kaspersky was withdrawn from all test quality assessments – even before the warning from the BSI.
Test winner Kaspersky withdrawn the test quality rating
Stiftung Warentest has published a corresponding note on its website about the test. It also explains why this step was taken:
“Against the background of the war in Ukraine, Stiftung Warentest has decided to withdraw the test quality ratings for the current antivirus programs from the Russian provider Kaspersky. We have revised the text and table accordingly (status: March 2, 2022). According to our current knowledge, the protective effect of the Kaspersky programs has not changed. Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that the Russian government will put pressure on the provider to make changes to the software that have a negative impact on its functionality.
Upon request, Kaspersky told us: "As a private, international and independent company with its holding organization registered in the UK and its local divisions run by local entities, Kaspersky has no ties to the Russian government. Kaspersky is not subject to the Russian surveillance program SORM or similar laws and is not required to disclose any information as the company does not provide communications services.”
The warning of the BSI forestalled
It continues: "We never allow government organizations access to user data or our infrastructure - and we have never received requests to build undeclared functions into our software. Such requests are generally rejected - and this will remain so in the future." Since antivirus software has a deep impact on the operating system, the choice of a program is also a question of trust...."
In an addendum, test.de stated that the BSI also warns against using Kaspersky products and advises using other antivirus programs.
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