A British bank Barclays has stopped giving free Russia based anti-virus software, Kaspersky after British National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC) issued a warning against the use software.



Since 2008, the bank has provided free Kaspersky software to its customer to protect them from being hacked, and it is estimated that more than 290,000 customers might have installed the software on their devices.



According to the letter issued by the bank, "The UK government has been advised... to remove any Russian products from all highly sensitive systems classified as secret or above." "We've made the precautionary decision to no longer offer Kaspersky software to new users."



However, the bank has reassured existing customers that they are safe, and need to panic. It added: 'At this stage, there is no action for you to take. It's important that you continue to protect yourself with anti-virus software.'



Yesterday, Barclays has emailed 290,000 online customers about their decision to cease the use of the anti-virus as a 'precautionary' measure.



Whereas, Kaspersky has denied all the allegations against them, and said they 'never helped… any government in the world, including Russia, with its cyber-espionage or offensive cyber efforts'.



Meanwhile, Barclays said: 'Barclays treats the security of our customers very seriously.'





