Barclays Bank is to stop offering free Kaspersky anti-virus software to customers after heeding unsupported official suspicions that the Russian kit could be used by the Kremlin to spy on Government departments.
The move follows an official dictum from the UK's National Cyber Security Centre warning the Government to remove Kaspersky products from departmental desktops in the interests of national security.
While the NCSC stressed that there was no evidence that the installation of Kaspersky software was a danger to public privacy, Barclays has acted to stop free downloads to new online banking customers.
It has also e-mailed the 290,000 customers who have taken up the free offer over the past decade to inform them of its decision, describing the move as a "precautionary" measure.
A spokesman for Barclays says: "Even though this new guidance isn't directed at members of the public, we have taken the decision to withdraw the offer of Kaspersky software from our customer website."