Kapersky Antivirus

Scanning encrypted connections

Connecting using the SSL / TLS protocols protects data exchange channel on the Internet. The SSL / TLS protocols allows identifying the parties exchanging data using electronic certificates, encoding the data being transferred, and ensuring their integrity during the transfer.

These features of the protocol are used by hackers to spread malicious programs, since most antivirus applications do not scan SSL / TLS traffic.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus scans encrypted connections using a Kaspersky Lab’s certificate. This certificate will always be used to check whether the connection is secure.

Further traffic scans via the SSL protocol are performed using the installed Kaspersky Lab’s certificate. If an invalid certificate is detected when connecting to the server (for example, if the certificate is replaced by an intruder), a notification will pop up containing a suggestion to either accept or reject the certificate, or view information about it. If the application works in automatic mode, the connection using an invalid certificate will be terminated without any notification.

The automatic installation of the certificate will only be available in Microsoft Internet Explorer. You can use the Certificate Installation Wizard to install a certificate to scan encrypted connections in semi-interactive mode in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox (if it is not launched) and Google Chrome, as well as to get instructions on installing Kaspersky Lab’s certificate for Opera.

To enable encrypted connections scan and install Kaspersky Lab’s certificate:

1. Open the application settings window.
2. In the left part of the window, in the Advanced Settings section, select the Network component.
3. In the window that opens check the  Scan encrypted connections box. When you first enable this setting, the Certificate Installation Wizard starts automatically.
4. If the wizard does not start, click the Install Certificate button. This will start a wizard with instructions to follow for a successful installation of the Kaspersky Lab certificate.

Scanning encrypted connections