Kaspersky Labs Accused of Working for Russian Spies

Russian-based antivirus company Kaspersky Labs has denied working with intelligence agencies in Russia. The denial follows a crackdown on US government agencies using the company's software.

The claims follow a series of previously unpublished emails sent in 2009 between company founder Eugene Kaspersky and colleagues. They mention a secret project "per a big request on the Lubyanka side." That's a reference to the headquarters of the FSB, the Russian security agency that's the modern-day equivalent of the KGB.

In principle the project was to work on defensive software for the FSB, protecting it from distributed denial of service attacks, in which troublemakers use a network of computers (often hijacked by malware) to flood a website or server with bogus data requests to knock it offline.

"Active Countermeasures" Raise Concerns

However, an email from Eugene Kaspersky reveals that the project also involved "active countermeasures." Bloomberg cites a source as saying these included providing real-time information on the physical location of the troublemakers and even accompanying the police and FSB staff on raids of suspects to provide technical support. (Source; Bloomberg.com)

The US General Services Administration announced this week that it has removed Kaspersky Labs from its list of approved vendors for IT services such as antivirus protection. Government agencies can still buy and use Kaspersky products, but won't be able to do so through a standard GSA contract, meaning it will become more time-consuming and bureaucratic to do so.

Company Says It's a Political Pawn

A Kaspersky Labs statement says the emails were misinterpreted and that it is being used as a pawn in political games between the US and Russia. It insisted that "The company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyber-espionage efforts."

Nobody has made any public allegations that Kaspersky Labs has attempted to inappropriately gather or share any information on its antivirus customers, whether business, government or consumer. However, US politicians argued there's too much risk that the Russian government might try to persuade the company to help it either disrupt or compromise US networks. (Source: reuters.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Do you use or have you used Kaspersky security products? Does its Russian ownership concern you given ongoing political and cybersecurity tensions? Is the US right to reduce the usage of Kaspersky software among government agencies?