Security companies typically offer protection at three levels: a basic antivirus, an entry-level security suite, and a mega-suite with additional features. However, that model isn’t universal. Kaspersky offers those three levels, and one beyond the mega-suite. Kaspersky Security Cloud offers everything you get with Kaspersky Total Protection, plus additional features, along with platform-specific improvements the company calls Adaptive Security.
This product comes in two editions, Personal and Family. Pricing for the Personal edition is the same as for Kaspersky Total Security, $89.99 per year for three licenses or $99.99 for five. You pay $149.99 per year for the Family edition, which lets you install protection on up to 10 devices, also the same as Kaspersky Total Security.
Prices for this kind of cross-platform multi-device suite vary wildly. You get unlimited cross-platform McAfee Total Protection licenses for $119.99 per year, for example. Norton 360 Deluxe looks more expensive, at $99.99 for five licenses. However, Norton comes with 50GB of online storage for your backups and also gives you five full VPN licenses, where Kaspersky offers no online storage and charges $4.99 per month to remove limits on its VPN. At the high end 10 licenses for Panda Dome Premium will run you $274.99 per year. Note that these are all list prices, and all are frequently discounted.
With the Family edition, you can also define as many as 9 secondary My Kaspersky accounts, with some limitations. Only the master account can manage the parental control component, for one. And while there’s no limit on installations of the password manager, you can only have five distinct user accounts.
Changes to Pricing
Long-time readers may remember that the Family edition used to include up to 20 devices. Kaspersky cut that offering in half shortly before this review, on the basis that few consumers made use of the 20 licenses. That was a mistake, in my opinion. Offering 20 licenses is very generous, even if people don’t use them all. In fact, if they don’t use all the licenses they paid for, looking generous costs Kaspersky nothing.
If you just want antivirus for all your devices, you might consider Kaspersky Security Cloud Free. This tool looks just like Kaspersky Security Cloud, but shield-shaped icon overlays identify numerous features that aren’t available for free. Among the premium-only features are Backup and Restore, Privacy Protection, Safe Money, and most of the bonus tools.
Extensive Installation
Kaspersky Security Cloud runs on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. You get a security app (on all but iOS), a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, a password manager, and a parental control system, among other things. To start the ball rolling, you create or log into a My Kaspersky account online, enter your registration code, and download the appropriate package for your operating system. To extend protection to another device, you can log in from the device, send an email with a link to the installer, or (for mobile devices) scan a QR code that has your credentials baked in.
The password manager installs automatically the first time you try to use it. The main installer adds the VPN component along with Kaspersky Security Cloud. You still install Safe Kids separately, but that makes sense given that many people don’t need it.
Once the mobile app is running, it walks you through adding the password manager and (for Android) the separate Kaspersky Internet Security app, without requiring you to log in to My Kaspersky. There’s also a separate QR code reader app for Android and iOS, and a battery monitor for Android. I lost count of the number of separate installations, but there were plenty.
Getting Kaspersky Security Cloud and its components on all your devices takes some doing, but it’s easier than in the past. Kaspersky Security Cloud behaves a bit more like a committee of separate programs than like an integrated suite. However, it offers some unique features not found in other Kaspersky products.
My Kaspersky Dashboard
As noted earlier, you log in to the My Kaspersky dashboard to install Kaspersky Security Cloud on each additional device. The Devices tab lists every single piece of hardware associated with your My Kaspersky account, along with the Kaspersky apps installed on each. If you haven’t installed all available apps for a given computer, phone, or tablet, it displays an Add Application button.
The Licenses tab displays details about your Kaspersky Security Cloud license, as well as licenses for any other Kaspersky products you may have installed. If you opted for the family edition, clicking Users lets you manage secondary My Kaspersky accounts for family members. The app explains that sharing will not give away access to your account, bank cards, or private data. You can add any number of family members, up to your maximum of 10 licenses and 10 devices. Once the recipients install Kaspersky Security Cloud, their hardware shows up in your dashboard.
Selecting a device on the Devices tab and clicking Manage gives you remote control and monitoring. You can check status and launch a full or quick scan. You can also remotely check for and install updates, and turn components on or off.
From the My Kaspersky dashboard, you can do more than just manage your devices and licenses. You can log in to your password manager data from any browser for full access to passwords, personal data, and secure notes. From the Kids page you can locate your children, view reports on their recent activity, and adjust the configuration of the parental control system. You can do many of the same parental control tasks using the app on your smartphone in parent mode.
The Secure Connection page lets you check how much VPN bandwidth you’ve used, either overall or on a per-device basis. If you’ve used up your daily bandwidth allotment on one device, this page helps you figure out which devices have bandwidth available.
The My Kaspersky dashboard isn’t new, nor is its ability to manage security on multiple platforms. But with Kaspersky Security Cloud, the online dashboard becomes the star of the show.
Shared Protection for Windows
When you install this product on a Windows box, you get protection equivalent to Kaspersky Total Security, with a slightly different appearance and some additional features. For full details on all the shared features, please read my review of Total Security; I’ll recap my findings here.
Kaspersky Total Security’s main window features a security status banner at the top, with eight large icons below: Scan, Database Update, Safe Money, Password Manager, Privacy Protection, Backup and Restore, Protection for kids, and My Kaspersky. Kaspersky Security Cloud is almost the same, but the icon lineup differs: Scan, Database Update, PC Cleaner, Password Manager, Privacy Protection, Safe Money, Mobile protection, and Secure Connection. Security Cloud includes all the same features—the only difference is in which features appear on the main window.
Kaspersky earned perfect and near-perfect scores in the latest releases of every independent lab test I follow. Feeding those scores into my test score aggregation algorithm yielded 9.7 points for Kaspersky, out of a possible 10. Bitdefender Total Security managed 9.9 points, but its score comes from just three labs where Kaspersky hit all four.
Scores in my hands-on malware protection tests weren’t as uniformly good, but when the labs all agree, I defer to their judgment. In the past, Kaspersky has earned 100 percent detection in my antiphishing test. This time it scored 96 percent, which is still quite good, though Trend Micro Maximum Security scored 100 percent in its latest antiphishing test, and six other products scored higher than Kaspersky.
The System Watcher component identifies malware, including ransomware, by behavior. I tested its ransomware protection skills by turning off all other protective layers and launching a dozen real-world samples. Its defense proved totally effective.
The suite includes a powerful firewall that makes its own decisions about network permissions for programs at varying trust levels. In testing, Kaspersky blocked more exploit attacks than almost any competitor.
Parental control comes from the excellent Kaspersky Safe Kids, which requires a separate installation. The content filter can block unwanted content, or just warn the child to stay away (of course it notifies you when a child ignores the warning.) Its ability to set time limits or time schedules for usage is unusually flexible. It can monitor social media, block or time-limit certain apps, locate your children via their mobile devices, and more. This full-featured parental control tool also offers extensive parental alerts and detailed reporting.
You also get the unremarkable Kaspersky Password Manager, which, like Safe Kids, sells separately for $14.99 per year. This utility, which also requires a separate installation, handles the basics of password management, no more. You won’t find advanced features like two-factor authentication, secure sharing, or password inheritance.
Like ESET Smart Security Premium, AVG, and others, Kaspersky can create encrypted virtual drives to store your sensitive files. Cleverly, it automates the process of securely deleting the unprotected originals, thereby foiling any attempt at forensic recovery of sensitive files.
The suite includes Kaspersky Secure Connection VPN, but even in this top-tier suite you get a limited edition. Other Kaspersky products limit you to 200MB of VPN traffic per device per day, or 300MB if you’re connected to My Kaspersky. This suite raises that to 500MB per device per day, which is a little better. But you still don’t get the ability to select a server, or use the Kill Switch feature. Upgrading to the premium VPN costs $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year.
Webcam protection keeps untrusted apps from peeking at you. The software updater finds and applies missing security patches. For those who need it, Kaspersky filters out spam. A virtual keyboard foils even hardware keyloggers. And the backup feature lets you archive files locally or in your Dropbox account. This suite is bursting with features that it shares with Kaspersky Total Security.
Home Network Scan
Do you have any idea how many devices connect to your Wi-Fi network? You probably know about the computers, and tablets, and smartphones. But what about all those smart speakers, smartphone-controlled garage doors, refrigerators that text you when you’re out of ice cream, and other Internet of Things devices? Kaspersky Security Cloud can help in a way that Kaspersky Total Security doesn’t.
From a Windows, macOS, or Android device, Kaspersky scans your Wi-Fi network and reports on exactly what’s connected. When possible, it displays the name and device type. You can click an item to see its IP address, MAC address, and (when available) manufacturer. If those clues help you identify a device marked Unknown, you can edit the entry to give it a friendly name and choose a device type. The list also adds a shield icon overlay to devices that have Kaspersky protection installed.
Once you’ve done the initial scan, Kaspersky notifies you any time it detects a new device connecting to your network. You can’t block unwanted intruders the way you can with the similar feature in Panda Dome Essential, but you’ll at least know about the incursion.
A button in the list offers to explain how you can block an unfamiliar device. In the past, this went to a page of instructions on how to block a device in router settings. Currently, it just displays general help for the network device monitor, with no mention of blocking.
Panda’s similar feature only works on Wi-Fi networks. That makes some sense. An intruder isn’t likely to walk up and plug in an Ethernet cable. But by observation Kaspersky can track both wired and wireless networks. Despite the name, the Wi-Fi Inspector in Avast Free Antivirus also scans both types of networks. Its purpose isn’t to detect intruders, but to identify devices that have security risks.
Account Check
Whichever platform you’re using, Kaspersky Security Cloud can check whether any of your email addresses appeared in data dumped from a known security breach. It checks the email address associated with your My Kaspersky account against the haveibeenpwned.com databases every 24 hours. You can also manually enter any email account for a checkup. That’s something Kaspersky Total Security won’t do for you. In fact, the only Kaspersky products that offer this feature are the free and paid editions of Kaspersky Security Cloud.
If the check turns up anything bad, you get a detailed list of websites that may have leaked your data, the date of the suspected leak, and the categories of data that may be compromised. It also suggests actions you can take to mitigate the damage.
The similar feature in MacKeeper goes a bit farther. You can drill down into any reported breach and see the actual passwords and other exposed data. That power could be misused, so MacKeeper refuses to search on any email address that you can’t verify as belonging to you.
Hard Drive Health Monitor
Also specific to Kaspersky Security Cloud is a health monitor for the hard drives in your Windows and macOS devices. This feature relies on the S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) feature found in all modern drives.
You can launch this feature at any time to view the status of your hard drives. Select a drive from the list at left and you get two main status indicators, overall drive condition and drive temperature. It also lists the number of hours the drive has been powered on, and the number of power cycles. Techies can dig in for detailed statistics, but in truth, you don’t need to look at all. If there’s a problem brewing, Kaspersky notifies you proactively.
Mac Protection
Many security vendors offer simple antivirus protection for macOS. Kaspersky is among the few that give Mac users a security suite, albeit one that’s not as comprehensive as the Windows suite. As a standalone product, Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac costs no more than many bare-bones Mac antivirus utilities. You can check my review for a deep dive into this utility’s features. Installed on a Mac, Kaspersky Security Cloud gives you all the same features plus the account check, network scan, and hard disk health components.
Only two of the four independent antivirus testing labs I follow test macOS antivirus tools. Both certify Kaspersky for Mac antivirus protection, with the best possible scores. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac also took the best possible scores and received both certifications.
I don’t have the resources to do hands-on antivirus testing on the macOS platform, but I do test protection against phishing. Phishing websites are platform-agnostic; they can fool you into giving away your login credentials no matter what browser or operating system you use. In my previous test, Kaspersky reached 100 percent detection both on Windows and macOS. This time around the macOS edition got 84 percent, quite a bit below the 96 percent earned by the Windows edition. I hope to see that score snap back up in my next round of testing.
The full antivirus scan took just slightly longer than the current average. Kaspersky also scans files on access and includes an option for scheduled scans. It runs a full scan at installation, which is good. After that, the real-time scan should take care of any problems.
While it is more than just antivirus, the macOS version doesn’t have all the features that you get under Windows. It does include the VPN, a version of Safe Money, a simpler webcam blocker, and a virtual keyboard. The Network Attack Blocker performs some of a firewall’s functions. A URL advisor warns you away from dangerous links. And you can enable the active Do Not Track feature to hide your habits from tracking ads and other trackers.
Protection for Android
The Kaspersky Security Cloud Android app shows more signs of the promised adaptive security than the desktop editions do. Its single scrolling window starts with a section that offers advice on improving security. It checks that all the components are installed and warns if your Wi-Fi connection is insecure. If it finds dangerous settings such as USB Debugging or Password Visibility enabled, the Security Live advisor explains how to correct the problem. Scrolling down reveals large panels that report the status of each component; tapping a panel installs or opens the corresponding component.
Like the PC Cleaner in Windows, Kaspersky helps you optimize storage on your Android. It lists apps you rarely (or never) use and offers to uninstall them. It also flags apps that have potentially dangerous permissions. If you see a flashlight app that has access to your contacts, for example, you might consider getting rid of it.
By default, you get a warning when you’re down to two hours of battery life, or if battery power is draining quickly. The main menu also offers a link to install Kaspersky Battery Life: Saver and Booster. This separately installed app monitors the Android device’s power consumption and warns the user if it becomes critically low. You can use it to view current charge status, and to terminate apps that are uselessly running in the background. You can also install Kaspersky’s QR code scanner, though modern Android versions build this functionality into the camera.
Unlike on Windows and macOS, the main Android app does not itself provide Android antivirus or other direct security features. Rather, it advises you to install Kaspersky Internet Security for Android. You also install Safe Kids, Secure Connection, and the password manager separately. I did say that all those installs add up!
I described Kaspersky Internet Security for Android at length in my review of Kaspersky Internet Security. That’s where you can go if you want a complete rundown on the Android security app. It offers on-demand antivirus scanning and real-time protection. With the anti-theft feature you can locate, lock, or wipe a lost phone or tablet as well as finding a misplaced one by having it sound a loud alarm. You can also snap mug shots of a device thief. A PIN lock for selected apps protects against the possibility that someone might pick up and use your phone while it’s unlocked.
On Android, Kaspersky Safe Kids differs somewhat from the version that runs on Windows or macOS. It does offer content filtering and social media monitoring. Parents can use the app in parent mode to check reports and configure most settings. Naturally, you can use the app to track your child’s location. You can also set timed geofences, so, for example, you get notification if your child leaves school during school hours. Please read our review of Safe Kids for full details.
Kaspersky Protection for iOS
The Kaspersky Security Cloud iOS app is a single scrolling window, just like the Android one. You don’t have as many extras to install, just Safe Kids, Secure Connection, and the password manager. Like many security companies, Kaspersky doesn’t bother with antivirus for iOS.
The VPN and password manager work just as they do on other platforms. However, Kaspersky Safe Kids on the iPhone is tuned very closely to the requirements of iOS.
A surprising number of iOS parental control apps are toothless, easily uninstalled by a clever child. Safe Kids, by contrast, protects itself against removal. It offers the same geofencing, content filtering, and flexible time scheduling as on other platforms. However, it can’t block use of the device when time is up, or during times the schedule doesn’t allow use, due to iOS limitations. It can only display a warning and notify parents.
Protect All Your Devices
Previously Kaspersky Security Cloud was a bargain on a per-device basis, with protection for 20 devices at $7.50 each. The current edition effectively doubles the price by offering just 10 licenses, the same as Kaspersky Total Security. Even at the same price, Kaspersky Security Cloud is a better deal because of its additional features. I don’t understand why the company bothers to offer both.
In our reviews, many of Kaspersky Security Cloud’s component parts rate four stars or better as standalone products. Kaspersky’s core antivirus protection aced all the latest lab tests, and scored higher than almost any competitors against exploits. It offers serious security protection on Windows, macOS, and Android, and does more than many competitors do for iOS. Kaspersky Security Cloud joins Norton 360 Deluxe as an Editor’s Choice for cross-platform multi-device security suites.
Editors’ Note: We are aware of the allegations of Kaspersky Labs’ inappropriate ties to the Russian government. Until we see some actual proof of these allegations, we will treat them as unproven, and continue to recommend Kaspersky’s security products as long as their performance continues to merit our endorsement.
Kaspersky Security Cloud Specs
| Application Privacy Scan | Yes |
| VPN | Limited |
| Snaps Photo of Thief | Yes |
| Firewall | Yes |
| Blocks Unwanted Calls | Yes |
| Antispam | Yes |
| Warns of Insecure Wi-Fi | Yes |
| Parental Control | Yes |
| Pairs With Android Wear | Yes |
| Backup | Yes |
| Rates Apps in Play Store | No |
| Tune-Up | Yes |
