Kaspersky Lab

"We're very concerned about it, and we are focused on it closely," said Andrew McCabe, the acting director of the FBI.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, which held today's hearing, wrote a secret memorandum expressing concerns about Kaspersky's ubiquity in U.S. homes and businesses, according to an ABC News report earlier this week.

Eugene Kaspersky, the company's founder and CEO, responded to the officials' remarks during a question-and-answer session on Reddit.

“Once again, I think that due to political reasons, these gentlemen don’t have an option, and are deprived from the opportunity to use the best endpoint security on the market without any real reason or evidence of wrongdoing from our side," Kaspersky said after the issue came up repeatedly. "I would be very happy to testify in front of the Senate, to participate in the hearings and to answer any questions they would decide to ask me.”

It's not the first time Kaspersky Lab has been suspected of ties to the Russian government. A report by Bloomberg News in 2015 noted that Kaspersky had released detailed reports about digital espionage by the U.S., the United Kingdom and Israel, but had paid less attention to Russian tactics. A New York Times report from 2012 also noted that Kaspersky's activism in uncovering and criticizing a cyberweapon likely used by the U.S. was in line with the Russian government's strategy at the time.

Kaspersky has long denied any collaboration with the Russia and did so again on Thursday. The company shared this statement with the Boston Business Journal:

“As a private company, Kaspersky Lab has no ties to any government, and the company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts. The company has a 20 year history in the IT security industry of always abiding by the highest ethical business practices, and Kaspersky Lab believes it is completely unacceptable that the company is being unjustly accused without any hard evidence to back up these false allegations. Kaspersky Lab is available to assist all concerned government organizations with any ongoing investigations, and the company ardently believes a deeper examination of Kaspersky Lab will confirm that these allegations are unfounded.”

Kaspersky's software is also highly regarded among industry analysts, with both Gartner and Forrester ranking it among the best "endpoint" security tools.

From NPR: http://www.npr.org/2017/05/12/528135219/4-big-intelligence-stories-you-missed-amid-the-comey-headlines-this-week

The cyber-frustrations of members of Congress and their witnesses are a frequent feature of Intelligence and Armed Services Committee hearings and other national security hearings on the Hill. They seldom, however, get more specific than broad statements and almost never involve the name of a specific problem or company. On Thursday, however, two senators mentioned one in particular: Kaspersky Labs.

The Russian company — which supports NPR and is a provider of security services for its IT systems — has been linked to work for Russia's intelligence agencies. The leaders of the House Oversight Committee released documents showing payments by Kaspersky to Flynn. Even so, millions of Americans use Kaspersky software, as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pointed out to the witnesses — but, he asked, would they run it on their systems?

Here's how they answered:

McCabe, of the FBI: "A resounding no from me."

Pompeo, of the CIA: "No."

Coats, the director of national intelligence: "No, senator."

Rogers, of the NSA: "No, sir."

Stewart, of the Pentagon's DIA: "No, senator."

Cardillo, of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: "No, sir."

Later, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., asked the intelligence bosses about Kaspersky again. They repeated their own government systems were safe from any danger, but the DIA's Stewart said he couldn't be sure about all of his contractors. Intelligence and defense contractors have been the sources for huge leaks of secrets from the NSA, CIA and other agencies.

>>139300
>The leaders of the House Oversight Committee released documents showing payments by Kaspersky to Flynn

Is there anyone Flynn isn't getting paid by?

>>139372
Turns out a fired US general can make a lot of money with years of GOV. secrets. I think he tried to keep the numbers small so as not to attract too much attention, hence being paid by several different companies. I really hope he goes to jail, he seems to be a traitor for money.

>>139377
Flynn wasn't your average General, he was head of the DIA under Obama.

I think the American alphabet-Agencies dislike Russian a/v company because of the potential Kaspersky has to expose US digital shenanigans against its own populace.

An opportunity for Symantec/Norton to promote their software....too bad they can't get their shit together to make something that actually works correctly.

>>143081
true, but at least Symantec has a cool blog.

>>143081
Any thoughts on bit defender ?

>>139811
Fun fact: thats what most of kaspersky's papers are about. Look up their age old back and forth with the equation group. They had all but openly accused the NSA of writing the worlds most sophisticated malware for years. After the Vault7 leaks they had enough evidence to just outright accuse the NSA

I would be deeply goncerned too if I were an alphabet agency. So goncerned I might firebomb Kaspersky's office buildings in an attempt to get rid of evidence.

>>143081
That's funny because Kaspersky himself said that the current Kaspersky software is absolute trash piece of shit