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Kaspersky activation: the 20-character code, My Kaspersky and the US prohibition

Kaspersky sells consumer protection outside the United States as Standard, Plus and Premium plans, recorded in an online account. This page describes the activation code, when a subscription’s term starts, how the account holds it, and why the company has sold nothing to customers in the United States since July 2024.

  • Independent reference
  • Facts checked 3 October 2026
  • No sales · no assistance
The activation chain, illustratedAn activation card carrying a 20-character code in four groups of five, an arrow to an account window at my.kaspersky.com, and two devices that sign in to that account. ACTIVATION CARD ACTIVATION CODE XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX term starts at first use ACCOUNT my.kaspersky.com Standard · Plus · Premium DEVICES SIGN IN
  • 20Latin letters and digits in the code, in four groups of five
  • 3consumer plans: Standard, Plus and Premium
  • Jul 2024from 20 July, no new agreements with US persons
  • Sep 2024from 29 September, no updates for US users
Company
AO Kaspersky Lab, Moscow; founded in 1997 by Eugene and Natalya Kaspersky with two co-founders
Consumer plan names
Kaspersky Standard, Plus and Premium, which replaced Anti-Virus, Internet Security and Total Security
What the key is called
Activation code; no other term appears in the maker’s guides
Where the key is supplied
On the box, in its documentation or on the back of an activation card; online purchases of the current plans need none
Where it is redeemed
My Kaspersky at my.kaspersky.com, or in the installer of a boxed product
Where the record lives
The same account, in its Subscriptions section

The activation code

Group 1 of 4 — twenty Latin letters and digits in allXXXXXGroup 1 of 4 — twenty Latin letters and digits in all-Group 2 of 4 — printed on the box, in its documentation or on a cardXXXXXGroup 2 of 4 — printed on the box, in its documentation or on a card-Group 3 of 4 — the licence sets how many devices it can activateXXXXXGroup 3 of 4 — the licence sets how many devices it can activate-Group 4 of 4 — a code never applied keeps its validity without limitXXXXXGroup 4 of 4 — a code never applied keeps its validity without limitACTIVATION CODE · 4 groups × 5 characters · point at a group

The maker’s documentation describes the activation code as “a unique sequence of twenty digits and Latin letters in the format xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx”. It is printed on the box, in the documentation or on the back of an activation card, and the licence it carries sets the number of devices it can activate. A code also has a validity period of its own, the window during which it can be used to activate the application. Kaspersky says a code that has never been applied keeps that period without limit.

Two clocks: the code and the subscription

Two ways a term starts, generic illustrationTwo bars: a code bought on a card loses no time on the shelf and its term counts from first activation; a subscription bought online counts from the purchase. CODE ON A CARD shelf: no time used TERM FROM FIRST ACTIVATION BOUGHT ONLINE TERM COUNTS FROM PURCHASE a code never applied keeps its validity without limit
Generic illustration: a code’s term counts from its first activation; an online subscription’s term counts from the purchase.

The documentation distinguishes two kinds of term. For a subscription activated with a code, the countdown starts on the date the application is activated on the first device, so a boxed code bought months earlier loses nothing while it waits. For a subscription bought online, it says the term “starts right after the subscription is purchased.”

The account

My Kaspersky, at my.kaspersky.com, is the account in which subscriptions are kept. For an activation card, the maker’s instructions begin by creating an account or signing in to one; the code is added under “Already have an activation code?”, and the Subscriptions section then shows the new subscription. A boxed product with an installation disc connects to the account during installation, asks for the code, and activates itself once installation is complete.

Purchases of Standard, Plus and Premium in the maker’s online store need no code at all. The subscription is added to the account automatically, and the maker says an account is created during the purchase if the buyer has none.

From Anti-Virus to Standard, Plus and Premium

The consumer plans are now Standard, Plus and Premium, which replaced the older Anti-Virus, Internet Security and Total Security names. The maker’s FAQ addresses holders of older codes directly: a valid code for one of the old editions activates the corresponding new plan. Moving to another of its applications replaces the existing licence, and the remaining term can then protect another device.

Renewal

Subscriptions bought online renew automatically before they expire. Cancelling the renewal leaves the application working until the current subscription ends. The consumer pages advertise a 30-day money-back guarantee on new plans.

The United States: no sales since July 2024

Kaspersky in the United States, 2024, generic illustrationA timeline: the US determination announced in June 2024, the end of new agreements with US persons on 20 July, the move of US installations to UltraAV in September, and the end of updates on 29 September.20 Jun 2024US determinationannounced20 Jul 2024no new USagreementsSep 2024US installationsmoved to UltraAV29 Sep 2024no updatesfor US users
Dates from the US Department of Commerce and the maker’s own statement.

In June 2024 the US Department of Commerce issued a final determination barring Kaspersky from the US market. From 20 July 2024 the company was prohibited from entering into new agreements with US persons, and from 29 September 2024 it could no longer provide US users with antivirus signature and code updates. Its own statement records the consequences: buying, renewing and fetching its products through usa.kaspersky.com was suspended, the mobile apps left the US app stores, licences kept working until their end dates with functionality reduced from September, and the company stopped renewing subscriptions.

In September 2024 an update moved US installations to UltraAV, a product of the US company Pango; an employee wrote on the company’s forum that subscriptions, terms and device coverage carried over. For a reader in the United States the practical rule is short. The company does not sell, renew or activate subscriptions there, so an offer to do any of the three is not the company’s.

What the maker publishes about fake assistance

No page on kaspersky.com lists things the company never does. Its blog has described fake technical-assistance scams at length and advises turning only to its own channels when a product misbehaves. The documented activation takes place in the account, on kaspersky.com, and includes no telephone call and no charge beyond the purchase itself.

The account page and an imitation

The browser’s address bar sits at the top of each wireframe and should be read first. For the imitation this page uses example.net, a domain kept for illustrations, rather than any address a reader might meet.

The maker’s own page, as an annotated wireframeAn address on the kaspersky.com domain inside the signed-in account, with one field for the code. https://my.kaspersky.com/ what the page asks for, in the illustrator’s words: the code field the subscription list one plain control; nothing else on the page WIREFRAME · GENUINE
The maker’s page. Registrable domain kaspersky.com, in the signed-in account. A code field and a subscription list; nothing to ring and nothing extra to pay.
An imitation, as an annotated wireframeThe brand word appears in a subdomain of an unrelated domain; the page shows a countdown, a charge demanded and a number to ring. https://kaspersky-renew.example.net/us three things drawn on the imitation, labelled by the illustrator: tell 1 · a countdown clock tell 2 · a charge demanded tell 3 · a number to ring WIREFRAME · IMITATION
Imitation. Registrable domain example.net; “kaspersky-renew” is a label its owner invented. Offered to a US reader, such a renewal is impossible on its face: the company stopped renewing there in 2024.

Six terms from My Kaspersky

Six expressions from the card and the account, each in a sentence.

My Kaspersky

The account at my.kaspersky.com that holds subscriptions, created automatically during an online purchase if needed.

Activation code

Twenty Latin letters and digits in four groups of five, printed on a box or a card.

Code validity period

The window in which a code can activate the application; unlimited for a code never applied.

Subscription license

A licence bought online, whose term starts at purchase and renews automatically.

Standard, Plus, Premium

The current plans, which older Anti-Virus, Internet Security and Total Security codes now activate.

UltraAV

The product of the US company Pango to which US installations were moved in September 2024.

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Documentation consulted

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