Kaspersky - Have you used them?

[gtcodave]

I've been using Kaspersky on my parents Windows box for years now. I was given sound advice when I was much younger, from a much older friend, who I idolised for his programming background, which was to use Kaspersky instead of Norton which I was using at the time.

 

However, I've been interested in Kaspersky from the perspective of a business for some time now, more so than ever after reading IT Threat Evolution: Q2 2012 - Securelist.

 

Has anyone here had any experience with Kaspersky in a corporate environment?

- what's the customer service like?

- is it easily deployable throughout the company?

- what pitfalls have you encountered?

- Compare Kaspersky with something such as Sophos, F-Secure or the revamped Security Essencials and how does it perform in terms of flexibility, features and how do you feel it performs?

 

 

They seem to be in the news so much these days. I was impressed that they were called upon to assist with the FLAME virus when I consider how modest they are with their advertising. Symantec, McAfee, TrendMicro are normally well known examples. But when talking to most people I know, many people have zero experience with Kaspersky.

 

Thanks very much for the feedback, I look forward to reading the respond from anyone with experience.

 

D

[elsiegee40]

At home, I use MSE everywhere. Why pay when there's a perfectly acceptable free option available? It's free, fast and efficient.

 

At school we use Symantec. It's been doing the job without bringing my network to its knees

[gtcodave]

Hi elsiegee40,

 

Define: perfectly acceptable. Although, I'm happy that it's free, fast and efficient. I'm aware that very recently MSE has been improved again. But it has, imo, years of reputation to shake off so I might wait for this maturer version to be tested properly, by others, before I use it myself for anything critical. I just wasn't convinced by the heuristics they added in 2010 and this assumption was affirmed by tales of viruses slipping by.

 

It's great that you say 'Why pay when there's a perfectly acceptable free option available? It's free, fast and efficient.'. That's precisely what I think when using BSD lol.

 

What I love about Symantec is their excellent detection rate. It really is up there with the best. But at the sacrifice of system resources is leaves a lot to be desired for me.

 

Thanks for your input.

 

 

D

[elsiegee40]

I'm not sure where your antipathy to MSE stems from, but it has stood up to industry tests against paid opposition in the same market. Many of us edugeeks swear by it. No solution is infallible, but if it keeps the bulk of the nasties out in a domestic environment it is doing the right job.

 

I have been around for many years and tried most things. None of them is perfect, but MSE does not slow things down like its expensive cousins and keeps things clean. I am not willing to pay for AV domestically now.

 

The jury is out where I am concerned for school/ business use. Symantec does carry a performance payload, but at least it makes a reasonable stab of the job. I am yet to be convinced that, in business/schools, Kaspersky is as good.

Edited November 27, 2012 by elsiegee40

[MattGreaves]

Never used Kaspersky other than the Rescue disks, etc so cannot comment on how it performs in a network environment. We are currently using VIPRE which is available via GFI Business Antivirus with a Small Footprint. We have found it very easy to setup/manage and includes lots of utilities to aid deployment. Definitely worth a look

[gtcodave]

elisie', to give that impression was not my intrention. If it helps you feel I'm less apathetic towards MSE I do appreciate it's exploit detection. Any professional view of MSE would be based on my experience in 2009/10, user comments, feedback from friends and reviews from reputable sites (Which do title it as the best free antivirus and as you say compare it to paid-for security suite solutions like McAfee. I think both you and I would agree that McAfee is not worth paying for considering its ability to detect exploits or malware.). When you get around to testing Kaspersky I'd like very much to hear your input on Kaspersky.

 

Matt, thanks for that, I'm always interested in researching something new. What was it that attraced your org' to it?

[VeryPC_Tom_M]

I've not used Kaspersky in a business environment, but I do use their IS product at home (on my PC and those of my parents).

 

I'm posting, as I know that Kaspersky are one of the databases checked by the MS Forefront Online Protection for Exchange for the 'latest' virus definitions. The others I know which are checked are Symantec and Authentium.

[Dos_Box]

Moving to Enterprise Software. Whilst it is about security related software, this thread is not directly security related.

[hardtailstar]

I use MSE at home, cant fault it.

 

Moving over to MSE for school use soon too, had mcaffe and its pretty much meant reformatting a laptop every week!

 

Ive used Kaspersky before at home but i didnt find it that good.

[MattGreaves]

elisie', to give that impression was not my intrention. If it helps you feel I'm less apathetic towards MSE I do appreciate it's exploit detection. Any professional view of MSE would be based on my experience in 2009/10, user comments, feedback from friends and reviews from reputable sites (Which do title it as the best free antivirus and as you say compare it to paid-for security suite solutions like McAfee. I think both you and I would agree that McAfee is not worth paying for considering its ability to detect exploits or malware.). When you get around to testing Kaspersky I'd like very much to hear your input on Kaspersky.

 

Matt, thanks for that, I'm always interested in researching something new. What was it that attraced your org' to it?

 

No entirely sure to be honest! It was something that our company director came across and introduced to replace McAfee which has caused us issues in the past. From what I have seen it is very to setup, configure and deploy (particularly with the inbuilt utilities for removing alternative AV agents on workstations).

[cpjitservices]

Symantc is good I used to have that on a network years back on RM CC2, Sophos here at the office and at home I use Avast / MSE

[maria_frenki]

I used Kaspersky some times ago but wasn't satisfied in it. Nowadays i'm using Nod32.

[ben604]

We were using Kaspersky up to September, now we're running Microsoft Forefront Endpoint through SCCM and it's much better. Much quicker, updates are more reliable, deployment is easy and works first time.

 

Our EES agreement covers the Licensing too, so it doesn't cost us a penny.

[Norphy]

We're in the same situation as Ben604. We were using Kaspersky up until the end of the summer term last year and we've moved onto ForeFront EndPoint Protection this year.

 

Kaspersky was OK to begin with, certainly better than what we were using before (FSecure) but as time went on the desktop client got heavier and heavier, the scanning engine got slower and it seemed to me that the central admin console got worse with each successive release. The desktop client had a ton of features in it but I always felt that they were more suited to an "Internet Suite" style security products rather than a corporate AV client.

 

When we move to FEP, it was a relief to have a AV client that was just an AV client and not trying to be a million other things too.

 

The support that I got from Kaspersky was always good though. I won't get that from Microsoft.

Edited December 10, 2012 by Norphy

[ess2k]

We have been using Kaspersky in our Primary school for over three years now, others I know recommended Kaspersky!

Previously we have used Symantec and Sophos and found them a bit rubbish as the years have gone on.

We had a price from our local lea which was ridiculous, but then got a very good price from a supplier called Network IT 24.

 

If your using another brand at the moment you will get a much better price off Kaspersky too!

I think they want you to see how good there product is compared to the other top AV providers!

 

I love the management console and its so easy to deploy the software to clients!

and the support is great too!!! not that its been needed much!

[gtcodave]

We have been using Kaspersky in our Primary school for over three years now, others I know recommended Kaspersky!

Previously we have used Symantec and Sophos and found them a bit rubbish as the years have gone on.

We had a price from our local lea which was ridiculous, but then got a very good price from a supplier called Network IT 24.

 

If your using another brand at the moment you will get a much better price off Kaspersky too!

I think they want you to see how good there product is compared to the other top AV providers!

 

I love the management console and its so easy to deploy the software to clients!

and the support is great too!!! not that its been needed much!

 

Very interesting to hear about the management console, that's certainly a plus. I've noted that some AV such as Avast suffered quite heavily in some of their versions which is why one place I work at now will be moving off them.

 

Further to my point I was making back in December about my concerns with MSE and having at least a source of information to back up views when debating a bad or good reputation...

 

I just found this which really does reinforce my apprehension. http://www.ibtimes.com/microsoft-security-essentials-fails-antivirus-certification-test-second-time-row-microsoft-disputes

 

I hope that Microsoft's business version will get better as it may be what one place I work at is moving to.

 

It's a shame that Kaspersky are, as has been mentioned, giving the impression they want to be an Internet suite.

 

Where proxy filtering is used and hardware firewalls; sometimes you just want the light weight and focus on AV.

 

As before I'm hoping to hear more of the good and he had of Kaspersky use.

 

Thank you

Edited January 17, 2013 by gtcodave

[Domino]

we use semantic here. Although not my first choice, it does the job with minimal fuss.. And has decent reporting and customisation available.

 

That said, based on my own research and limited testing, Vipre FTW.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Domino

[bossman]

Been using Kaspersky enterprise here for the past year and a half with no problems whatsoever, install the server config and then point to your clients, auto install on clients which in turn update automatically from server which in turn auto updates over the net,

 

Simple to use with lots of lovely tools and reporting functionality, in my eye's an excellent product.

[pat_k]

Been using Kaspersky here for about 5 years. We moved over from Sophos as the client had just become far too unwieldy. Kaspersky was, at first, lean and nimble. I echo the sentiments above regarding the Admin console, but the overhead the client is causing to workstations is now causing us to look elsewhere. I also have heard good things about VIPre, and we are going to be evaluating NOD32 as well, before our licensing expires.