Kaspersky Labs is a well-respected Russian company that makes malware-detection
software used all over the world... or it *was* well-respected, until recently.
I don't have any of their products on my computer, but I've thought about doing
so.

There was a news item sometime over the last couple of months that the Russian
government *arrested* the owner(?) of Kaspersky Labs. I don't know any of the
details about this, or what has happened to the company since then.

Over the last couple of days, the US Senate has been holding 'hearings' about
Russian cyber-warfare, possible collusion between the Trump election process and
the Russians, etc. One of the topics that has emerged concerns Kaspersky Labs--
that its software might be a threat to the US(!) In today's Senate hearings, a
Senator specifically asked the invited leaders of all of the government's
intelligence services if they would feel comfortable using Kaspersky Lab's
software on their own computers. The answer from every member was a resounding
"NO".

This seems like a strange development. So far, I haven't been able to determine
if this perceived threat is based on *facts*, or if it is just typical US
'political grand-standing', based on some kind of ill-defined *fear*.

Does anyone know the facts behind this development?

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On 12-5-2017 3:47, Kenneth wrote:
[snip]
>
> This seems like a strange development. So far, I haven't been able to determine
> if this perceived threat is based on *facts*, or if it is just typical US
> 'political grand-standing', based on some kind of ill-defined *fear*.
>
> Does anyone know the facts behind this development?
>
>

 From what I read in the magazines testing digital products, Kaspersky 
Labs seems sound and reliable. There has not been any report of malware 
threads related to them yet, as far as I know, so, in first instance, I 
would dismiss this as fear-mongering and neo-mccarthyism. That said, the 
future may change...

-- 
Thomas

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I was watching those Senate hearings 'live' on TV (on the C-SPAN channel here in
the US). The first thought that struck me was that this brief interchange
between the one Senator (Marco Rubio) and the intelligence chiefs might have
instantly destroyed the reputation of Kaspersky Labs, at least in the West
(among the US and its allies.) That in itself seemed grossly unfair-- and does
indeed remind me of McCarthyism. BTW, Kaspersky has a branch in the US-- so
maybe it can bring a legal suit against that Senator for something like "loss of
revenue" ;-)

From reading the international news this morning, there are hints that some
members of the US political community have some long-standing grudges against
Kaspersky Labs-- mostly from extreme-far-right officials, like Rubio and Senator
Ted Cruz (who happens to bear a striking resemblence to Joesph McCarthy, ha!)
Here are some quotes from various (respected) sources...

"Multiple American media outlets have reported that [founder Eugene] Kaspersky
has also turned down American intelligence attempts to turn him into a
[cyber-espionage] asset for the U.S., another move that stoked annoyance from
Washington."

"[Kaspersky Labs] has also reported on U.S. cyber-espionage including Stuxnet,

nuclear facility. [destroying centrifuges there, with technical help from the
US's ally Israel.]"

[correction: Eugene Kaspersky himself wasn't arrested by the Russians, it was
another member of his company...

"Public attention on the company was renewed in December [2016], when Russian

investigation team leader, and charged him with treason for allegedly passing
state secrets to American firms before he joined Kaspersky in 2012."

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From what you've quoted so far, I'd be inclined to chalk it up to
anything from plain paranoia to lobbying by the US software security
industry.

In a diametrally opposed scenario, Kaspersky Labs might even be the good
guys, and the whole thing might be driven by US intelligence agencies
bent on getting rid of them, in favour of companies they can more easily
press into adding backdoors for them.

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On 13-5-2017 9:18, clipka wrote:
> From what you've quoted so far, I'd be inclined to chalk it up to
> anything from plain paranoia to lobbying by the US software security
> industry.
>
> In a diametrally opposed scenario, Kaspersky Labs might even be the good
> guys, and the whole thing might be driven by US intelligence agencies
> bent on getting rid of them, in favour of companies they can more easily
> press into adding backdoors for them.
>

I would add to that that the Russian intelligence agencies might be 
trying the same thing...

-- 
Thomas

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