Kaspersky Premium

Kaspersky Premium is the top plan of Kaspersky’s consumer security suite for Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone; Standard and Plus are the cheaper plans of the same app. Kaspersky was founded in 1997, has its headquarters in Moscow and says its holding company is in the United Kingdom.

Independent labs rate it at the top: AV-TEST gave it the maximum score in every test round from February 2021 to August 2026. The other side is where it can be bought and what governments have said about it. Since 2024 it is not sold in the United States, Germany’s cybersecurity agency has advised since 2022 replacing it, and the sections below give each of these with dates and the issuing body.

Whether an antivirus is needed at all depends on the system, because Windows, macOS, Android and iPhone each ship with their own protection; Do You Need an Antivirus? goes through them.

Lab Results

AV-TEST tested Kaspersky Premium on Windows 11 in July and August 2026 and gave it the maximum 6.0 points for protection, speed and usability. It stopped 100% of 0-day attacks in both months, against an industry average of 99.9%, and raised no false warnings or false detections. The Windows version has scored 6.0 in all three areas in every one of the 34 two-month rounds from February 2021 to August 2026; over that time the lab tested it under the plan names Internet Security, Standard, Plus and Premium. On macOS, AV-TEST’s June 2026 round gave Premium 6.0 in all three areas, and on Android its September 2026 round did the same, with every sample caught in both of its malware tests.

AV-Comparatives has tested Kaspersky since 2004. In the September 2026 malware test on Windows, Premium blocked 9,997 of 10,000 samples, a 99.97% protection rate in the top group, with 5 false positives, and received the highest award, ADVANCED+. In the real-world test from February to May 2026, which uses malicious websites and downloads, it blocked 399 of 400 attacks, the highest protection rate of the 20 products, with 3 false positives against a test average of 8, and also received ADVANCED+.

The same lab’s 2026 Mac test found that Kaspersky Premium for Mac blocked 100% of Mac malware and 99% of potentially unwanted Mac apps, the highest score the test allows for those, with no false alarms. Its May 2026 Android review measured a 99.9% protection rate with 1 false positive. Both reviews gave it the APPROVED award. AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives publish no results for the iPhone app.

Where It Is Sold and What Governments Have Said

United States. On 20 June 2024 the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security issued a Final Determination that bars Kaspersky Lab, Inc. and its affiliates, subsidiaries and parent companies from providing antivirus software and cybersecurity products or services in the United States or to US persons. From 20 July 2024 Kaspersky could not sign new agreements with US persons. From 29 September 2024 it could not provide antivirus updates or operate the Kaspersky Security Network for US users. The bureau also added AO Kaspersky Lab and OOO Kaspersky Group in Russia and Kaspersky Labs Limited in the United Kingdom to its Entity List, a US trade-restriction list. It gave four reasons: Kaspersky is subject to the jurisdiction of the Russian government and must comply with its requests for information, antivirus software has broad access to customer data, Kaspersky could install malicious software or withhold updates, and its software is built into other companies’ products. On 21 June 2024 the Treasury Department sanctioned twelve executives and board members of AO Kaspersky Lab; the company itself was not designated.

The bureau said that people who keep using Kaspersky products they already have face no legal penalties, but that they take on the cybersecurity risks, and it encouraged them to switch. Earlier US steps were a 2017 directive for federal agencies, a 2018 law for the federal government and a 2022 listing by the Federal Communications Commission. Kaspersky says it stopped selling in the US and is winding down its US operations. It says the decision rests on “the present geopolitical climate and theoretical concerns” and not on an evaluation of its products, and that the restrictions apply only to US persons.

Germany. On 15 March 2022 the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) warned against using Kaspersky antivirus software and recommended replacing it with another product. Its reasoning is that antivirus software has far-reaching system rights and a permanent connection to the manufacturer’s servers that cannot be checked, so trust in the manufacturer is decisive. In the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the BSI says, a Russian IT manufacturer could carry out offensive operations itself, be forced against its will to attack target systems, or, as the victim of a cyber operation it does not know about, be misused as a tool against its own customers. The BSI states that use is not banned in Germany, that people should make their own assessment, and that existing antivirus should not be removed without a replacement. The warning is still published, now under section 13 of the BSI Act.

United Kingdom. The National Cyber Security Centre wrote on 29 March 2022 that a home laptop running Kaspersky is highly unlikely to be directly targeted and that it was safe to use “at the moment”, but that people might need to switch if Kaspersky became subject to sanctions, because updates would then stop. It advised some organisations, such as public bodies and operators of critical infrastructure, to reconsider their use of Russian technology. That statement is from 2022.

Australia. On 21 February 2025 the Australian Government published a direction from the Department of Home Affairs requiring government entities to prevent the installation of Kaspersky products on government systems and devices and to remove existing ones. The direction applies to government bodies, not to individuals.

Other governments have taken positions on Kaspersky too, so this is not a full list.

Where it is on sale. Kaspersky’s UK and Middle East English-language stores were selling the plans on 8 November 2026. Kaspersky’s own FAQ says it stopped selling in the US after the determination. Kaspersky VPN is not available in some countries, including China, India and Iran.

What the Software Sends to Kaspersky

Kaspersky’s privacy policy lists the data its products can send: details of each threat found, a list of installed applications, the addresses of websites visited with logins and passwords removed, operating system events, Wi-Fi connection data and suspicious files. The files are mainly executables, but harmless files or parts of them may be sent as well so that the system makes fewer false positives. Files are analysed automatically and, in rare cases, by a malware analyst. This is cloud scanning with whole files uploaded.

Kaspersky’s help says taking part in the Kaspersky Security Network, its cloud database of file and website reputations, is voluntary: it can be chosen at installation or later in the settings, and it starts when the user accepts the network’s statement. The privacy policy adds a separate marketing statement, also accepted by ticking a box. Data the product needs in order to work is listed in the licence agreement and is sent regardless. The policy also lists product usage, such as which features are used more often. This is telemetry that the user can limit in part.

In 2017, after a press report alleged that its software had been used to take classified US material, Kaspersky published its own investigation. It describes a case in 2014 in which the software on one US user’s computer automatically pulled back an archive because the archive triggered its detections for a known espionage toolset. The archive also held what appeared to be source code for that toolset and four Word documents with classification markings. Kaspersky wrote that its CEO asked for the archive to be deleted, that it found no indication the material left its corporate network, and that deleting such material became a rule for its analysts. These are the company’s statements. They show that whole archives, and not only single malware files, can be uploaded when they contain something the software flags.

Owner, Jurisdiction and Where Data Is Processed

Kaspersky describes itself as a private company with a holding company in the United Kingdom, and its operating company is in Russia. The privacy policy is issued by AO Kaspersky Lab in Moscow, and Kaspersky Labs GmbH in Ingolstadt is its representative under EU data protection law. Neither the privacy policy nor the FAQ names who owns the holding company.

The policy lists the countries where users’ personal data can be processed: 25 in total, among them Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Russia, China and Belarus. It adds that data received from users in the EU is processed “on servers located in the EU and Russia”; that version of the policy is dated 28 February 2022. Separately, Kaspersky says that since November 2018 the suspicious files and their metadata that users in Europe, North and Latin America, the Middle East and several Asia-Pacific countries choose to share are processed in two data centres in Zurich, Switzerland, while usage statistics can be processed in Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries. Kaspersky’s statement names only those regions.

On Russian law, Kaspersky says it has no ties to the Russian government, that it is not obliged to provide information under Russia’s surveillance laws because it does not provide communication services, and that it gives no authority direct access to user data. The US Commerce Department reached the opposite finding about the company’s obligations. Beyond protection, the policy’s data use includes personalised offers from Kaspersky and third parties and allows sharing data within the group and with service providers, among them advertising providers.

Data Breach and Incident History

In early 2015 Kaspersky found that attackers had broken into several of its internal systems. On 10 June 2015 it said the malware was a platform called Duqu 2.0, which exploited up to three previously unknown vulnerabilities, and that the attackers’ main goal was to spy on its technologies, research and internal processes. Kaspersky said apart from intellectual property theft it had found no other malicious activity and that customers and partners were safe. That is the company’s own account.

On 1 June 2023 Kaspersky said spyware delivered through zero-click iMessage attachments had infected the iPhones of dozens of its employees, found through its monitoring of its own office Wi-Fi. It said no customer data and no company products or services were affected, and that the attackers could only reach data stored on the infected phones. That is the company’s own account.

On 5 April 2024 a criminal group published 56,797 rows of registration data from a Kaspersky fan-club forum: logins, email addresses, IP addresses and hashed passwords. Kaspersky said its own infrastructure was not compromised, that the attack hit the hosting provider of the fan-club site, and that the data of its product users was not affected. These incidents are the data breach history on record for Kaspersky.

Audits and Vulnerabilities

Kaspersky has a SOC 2 Type II report, announced on 4 September 2026, covering August 2025 to July 2026. A SOC 2 report is written by an outside accounting firm; Kaspersky does not name the firm. This one covers only the controls over how Kaspersky develops, tests and releases its antivirus databases for Windows and Unix systems, and Kaspersky gives the full report to customers and partners on request. It was commissioned by Kaspersky, so it is not an independent security audit of the consumer product’s code or data handling. Kaspersky also says its data services hold ISO/IEC 27001 certification, with a scope that includes its data centres in Germany, Singapore, China, Brazil and Russia.

Kaspersky runs 13 Transparency Centers, in cities including Zurich, Madrid, Utrecht, Singapore and Tokyo, where trusted partners and government bodies can compile its software from source code and compare the result with the public build. The offer is for partners and governments; no route for individual customers is described. The company publishes a report every six months on its handling of government and law enforcement requests and another on requests from users; the latest listed is for the first half of 2026. Researchers can report vulnerabilities through a bug bounty on HackerOne, which names a special $100,000 reward for an attack that runs malware code inside a privileged antivirus process; Kaspersky’s online services and websites are outside its scope.

What Is Included

All three plans include real-time antivirus, safe browsing, phishing and scam protection, a two-way firewall, performance and cleanup tools and stalkerware detection. Plus adds a VPN, a password manager, a data leak checker, a hard drive health monitor and crypto threat protection. Premium adds an identity protection wallet, remote access detection, a smart home monitor, expert virus check and removal, 24/7 remote IT support and a year of the Safe Kids parental control app, which together make it a bundled security suite.

Prices

On Kaspersky’s Middle East English-language store, three devices cost $34.99 a year for Standard, $46.99 for Plus and $54.99 for Premium at renewal. The first year costs $30.99, $40.99 and $42.99, and the subscription renews automatically at the full price. There is no US price list, and other regional stores price in local currency. A 30-day money-back guarantee applies.

There is no free version, only a 30-day trial of Standard, so there is no free tier to fall back on.

Pros and Cons

• Full 6.0 AV-TEST scores for protection, speed and usability in all 34 Windows rounds from February 2021 to August 2026
• Highest protection rate of the 20 products in AV-Comparatives' real-world test of February to May 2026, 99.8%, with 3 false positives against an average of 8
• Light on system speed: third of 20 in AV-Comparatives' September 2026 performance test
• Renewal prices of $34.99 to $54.99 a year for three devices on Kaspersky's Middle East store, with a 30-day refund
• Publishes half-yearly transparency reports on government and user data requests and runs a bug bounty on HackerOne

• Not sold in the US since 2024, and its updates for US users ended on 29 September 2024
• Germany's BSI has advised replacing it since March 2022, and the US Commerce Department found that Russia's ability to influence or direct the company posed an unacceptable national security risk, which Kaspersky disputes
• The operating company is in Moscow and the privacy policy lists Russia among the countries where user data is processed
• Can send suspicious files, website addresses and a list of installed apps to Kaspersky; part of this depends on the Kaspersky Security Network, which can be switched off
• The only audit is a SOC 2 report Kaspersky ordered, on how antivirus updates are released, and AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives publish no results for the iPhone app

Our Rating

Kaspersky suits readers outside the US who want antivirus with the best lab results at a low renewal price and who are comfortable with a company whose operating base is in Russia and whose software was warned against by the German authority. It does not suit readers in the US, who cannot buy it or receive updates for it, anyone who does not want files and website addresses processed by a Moscow-based company, or anyone who follows the German authority’s advice.

• Protection Quality9.5/10

  AV-TEST gave Kaspersky 6.0 of 6 for protection on Windows in every two-month round from February 2021 to August 2026, and 6.0 on macOS in June 2026 and on Android in September 2026. AV-Comparatives measured the highest protection rate of its real-world test of February to May 2026, 99.8%, and 99.97% in its September 2026 malware test, both in the top group with its highest award. On Mac it caught all Mac malware in the test. AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives publish no results for the iPhone app.

• Privacy & Data Practices4.0/10

  The operating company is in Moscow, and the privacy policy lists Russia among the countries where user data is processed. With the Kaspersky Security Network switched on, the software sends suspicious files, the addresses of websites visited and a list of installed apps to Kaspersky. The US Commerce Department barred sales in the US in 2024 and Germany's BSI has advised since 2022 replacing the product, both citing the risk that a Russian company could be directed by its government; Kaspersky disputes this and no sale of user data is documented, though its policy allows personalised third-party offers and sharing with advertising service providers. Kaspersky said its own network was breached in 2015 and that dozens of its employees' iPhones were infected in 2023, and a fan-club forum on a hosting provider's servers leaked in 2024.

• Usability & System Impact8.5/10

  AV-TEST gave 6.0 for performance and 6.0 for usability, with no false detections, on Windows, macOS and Android. In AV-Comparatives' September 2026 performance test the product slowed the computer third least of 20 products. That lab counted 5 false alarms in its malware test, fourth of 13 result groups, 3 in its real-world test against an average of 8, none on Mac and 1 on Android. The plans cover Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone, but cannot be bought in the US.

• Transparency & Verifiability5.5/10

  Kaspersky has a SOC 2 Type II report, for August 2025 to July 2026, that it ordered itself from an auditor it does not name; it covers only how antivirus updates are developed and released, and is given to customers and partners on request. It also states an ISO/IEC 27001 certificate for its data services. Its 13 Transparency Centers let partners and governments, not consumers, compile the software from source and compare it. It publishes half-yearly reports on government and user data requests and runs a bug bounty on HackerOne. No independent audit of the consumer product is published, and what it says about Russian law and government ties is its own statement.

• Price & Value8.0/10

  For three devices, renewal costs $34.99 a year for Standard, $46.99 for Plus and $54.99 for Premium, against first-year prices of $30.99, $40.99 and $42.99. Plus adds a VPN and a password manager; Premium adds identity protection and expert help. There is a 30-day refund and a 30-day trial of Standard, but no free version. The prices are from the Middle East store; there is no US price.

Overall7.2/10

Protection Quality 30% · Privacy & Data Practices 25% · Usability & System Impact 20% · Transparency & Verifiability 15% · Price & Value 10%

See our rating methodology →