Kaspersky Denies Allegations That It Aids Russian Intelligence Agencies
Earlier today, an ABC News report said that the FBI is investigating Russian security company Kaspersky Lab because U.S. officials have concerns about the company’s ties to Russian intelligence. Kaspersky stated that the allegations are false.
Russian Antivirus
The Kaspersky antivirus and related security solutions are some of the most popular with over 400 million users around the world. However, in the current U.S. political climate, Kaspersky’s Russian origin, as well as the founder’s and other executive's history with the Russian intelligence services, have prompted the FBI and some Congressional officials to raise questions about the potential damage the software could cause in the wrong hands.
Kaspersky Labs was founded by Eugene Kaspersky, who went to a KGB-sponsored technical college and has since done work for the Russian military. Kaspersky himself has repeatedly denied allegations that he is working closely with the Russian government or that his company is building offensive solutions for the Russian government or any other government.
However, another report in 2015 said that since 2012, high-level officials at Kaspersky Lab have left or been fired and replaced with executives that are friendlier to the Russian government.
Kaspersky Responds
One of the accusations brought against Kaspersky today, but also in the past, is that the new executives that are friendly to the Russian government could use the information gathered from the company’s 400 million users to aid Russian intelligence.
Kaspersky said that the data is anonymized and that users can disable the telemetry reporting at any time. Enterprise customers can also install a local and private Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) to ensure data isn’t transferred to outside servers.
The company also added that it routinely obtains licenses and certificates in all the countries in which it operates to ensure that it’s in compliance with the required security standards. Kaspersky argued that this should demonstrate that the company’s solutions are trustworthy.
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Kaspersky added that it will assist all government agencies with ongoing investigations, but that it believes a deeper examination of its products will prove the allegations were unfounded.
Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers software news and the issues surrounding privacy and security.
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TEAMSWITCHER Get all RUSSIAN MADE software off your computer.... If you know what's good for you.Reply -
JohnMD1022 What nonsense. Instead of chasing non-existent Russian interference in the American election, perhaps there should be some investigation into why Seth Rich was murdered.Reply -
beayn If this conspiracy theory came from the Right, all the media outlets would dismiss it immediately as Fake News, and "far right extremist" conspiracy theories... but since it comes from Hillary's camp and they need someone to blame for her losing, the media is all over this shit.Reply -
derekullo Eugene KasperskyReply
A really smart Russian guy who went to a Russian college and later founded a multinational antivirus company that later helped the Russian government remove viruses from their computers.
Bill Gates
A really smart American guy who went to an American College and later founded a multinational company that later helped the American government not use Apple.
I don't see any conflict of interest.
If it ever got out that an antivirus company was making viruses for ... well anyone ... all trust in that company would be gone and you would get posts like:
19670249 said:Get all RUSSIAN MADE software off your computer.... If you know what's good for you.
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plateLunch What software do you use to backup your files? If you use Acronis, did you know that company is headed up by a Russian too? Oooooh.Reply -
cats_Paw Well, so far we have only caught Americans doing that.Reply
There have been so many scandals about what Amrica is doing we accept it as norm right now.
So, either Russians are THAT much better at it, or they are not doing it.
But then again, when you are the one doing shady stuff, you expect everyone else to be doing the same thing. -
chicofehr I'm sure that, if they are giving the Kremlin info, they are not doing it volunteerly. If you resist Putin, you will probably die or have your business shut down and be put in prison. Most companies would obey out of fear of theirs and their families lives. They should move their business to a more friendly country. And yes the US does it too, but unlike Russia, you probably wont die for resisting.Reply