In a major decision, Barclays Bank said it is stopping offering free Kaspersky anti-virus products to new online banking customers in the wake of the UK government warning following an official UK government warning about any Russian software product being used in highly sensitive systems in the country. The bank has sent an email to this effect to some 300,000 such customers. The bank said it is taking this precautionary action and added there is there is nothing to suggest that customers need to stop using Kaspersky. The bank has been offering the product to its new internet banking customers on a free trial basis for a period of 12 months. The UK National Cyber Security Centre – the country’s authority on cyber security and part of GCHQ – said it is writing to all government departments telling them Russian security software could be exploited by Moscow. A spokesperson for the center had said Russia is acting against the UK’s national interest in cyberspace and it seeks to target UK central government and the UK’s critical national infrastructure. He went to the extent of advising that a Russia-based provider should never be used for systems that deal with issues related to national security.
