Question & answer

Is Kaspersky safe to use in 2026?

The short answer

In the United States, no. Kaspersky has been banned there since September 2024 and US users no longer get the virus definition updates that keep it safe. Outside the US its lab results remain excellent, but the geopolitical risk is yours to weigh. Most people are better served by Bitdefender or ESET.

In detail

In September 2024 the US government banned the sale and updating of Kaspersky software. It cited national security concerns about the company’s Russian roots. For users the practical effect matters more than the politics. Antivirus lives on its updates. Americans still running Kaspersky have received no virus definition updates since then. Outdated antivirus gives a false sense of security. That is worse than having none.

Outside the US the technical picture is unchanged. The independent labs still rank Kaspersky’s engine among the very best. AV-TEST gives it full marks in its home-user test. AV-Comparatives publishes its own ratings on the lab’s website. No public evidence of misuse of customer data has come to light. Kaspersky has also moved data processing for many regions to Switzerland. For a buyer in Europe or elsewhere, the question is about risk appetite rather than detection rates.

Our view is practical. Security software runs on trust. That trust includes the chance that politics cuts you off from updates overnight. It happened to American customers. Bitdefender from Romania and ESET from Slovakia offer comparable protection without that risk. Both are based in the EU. That is why we recommend them, even where Kaspersky is still legal.