From January to May 2023, sales of consumer antivirus and network security solutions for PCs in Russia reached 195 thousand licenses, which is 61% less than in the previous year. In this respect informs publication “Kommersant” referring to analysts. In terms of money, the market also amounted to 268 million rubles, which is equivalent to a 61% decrease.
According to Kommersant, in the first half of the year, Kaspersky Lab’s share increased by 14% to 94%. This was despite the company’s sales of licenses falling 54% in contrast. Shares of the other Russian company Dr.Web fell by 14% in units and 25% in money. At Czech company Avast, numbers fell 92% and 83%. Slovak ESET saw a drop of almost 100% in both parts and money. Both European companies left the Russian market after the start of CBO. At the same time, Romanian seller SoftWin, whose sales in the Russian Federation increased by 1.5 times both in terms of units and in terms of money, was launched.
Experts interviewed by Kommersant believe that the antivirus market has fallen sharply due to Microsoft’s departure from Russia. In the Russian Federation, the sale of laptops and computers with pre-installed Windows has almost stopped, and antiviruses of this or that brand are often installed on them by equipment manufacturers. Users often install pirated versions of Windows on “clean” PCs and laptops.
“With the transition of users to pirated operating systems and programs, the demand for official antiviruses has also dropped – users have either started downloading pirated versions or using free programs,” said Garda Technologies Executive Vice President. Directed by Rustam Khairetdinov.
Previously, cyber experts from Guardz discovered macOS virus that steals Telegram accounts.