Hi folks!<\/p>\n
I doubt you\u2019ll have missed the unrelenting negative news coverage about KL of late. The most recent accusation is that alleged Russian hackers and the hidden hand of the Kremlin have somehow used our products to spy on American users and pilfer their secrets.<\/p>\n
The media attacks have been intense, fierce and persistent \u2013 so much so that we\u2019ve had to lay low for a while to catch our breath and work out what on earth this is all about. But now, since nearly a week has passed without any significant flak coming our way, I\u2019ve been able to take the time to sit down and put fingertips to keyboard and assess the situation as objectively as I can. And I\u2019d best do it quickly, since the respite may be short.<\/p>\n
So, again\u2026 What exactly is going on here?<\/p>\n
First up, let\u2019s keep in mind that concerns about KL, given its origins, are not new. We recognize that some people think \u2018Russian cybersecurity company\u2019 are three words that shouldn\u2019t be in the same sentence, especially these days. Still, the motivations behind recent reports, while intriguing, cannot be our concern. Instead, we need to focus on doing everything possible to be as transparent as possible for our most important stakeholders: our customers and partners.<\/p>\n
Despite today\u2019s tense geopolitical situation, KL has continued do what it does best: focusing on protecting our customers from cyberthreats regardless of where those threats may come from. Our folks work hard every day to be the best at what they do in order to provide the best cybersecurity protection available. And independent tests and awards<\/a> show that our efforts haven\u2019t been in vain. Just this month we were awarded the top \u2018Platinum Award\u2019 as part of the first ever Gartner Peer Insights Customer Choice Awards for Endpoint Protection Platforms<\/a>. To receive any industry award is a good thing; to receive one based on what customers say about us is even better. Clearly we\u2019re doing something right. And we want to continue doing it right\u2026 no \u2013 better \u2013 in the ongoing fight against cybercrime.<\/p>\n But we know awards and accolades don\u2019t address these recent allegations. And we all know that government scrutiny of KL will continue. The past year has seen concerns about KL change from \u2018what if their technology could be a tool for cyber-espionage by nation states\u2019 to \u2018they were hacked and used as a vehicle to spy on spies\u2019. And while it\u2019s hard for us to keep up with the constantly evolving narrative, ask yourself one thing: \u2018if these recent allegations are true, where\u2019s the evidence?\u2019 If there was any evidence that we\u2019ve been knowingly involved in cyber-espionage, we\u2019d be toast! No ifs or buts \u2013 it\u2019d be game over: governments would take immediate, severe action, including legal moves, and that would be that. But there\u2019s been nothing of the kind. And you have to wonder why.<\/p>\n Another issue is where\u2019s the due process? The steady stream of media leaks seem intentionally designed to damage our reputation without providing us with any real opportunity to address any concerns \u2013 because action is being taken before we can engage. Some will say that the government has provided us with an administrative remedy that we can pursue, and if so we will do so. But genuine due process provides you with the opportunity to defend yourself and see the evidence against you before action is taken; it doesn\u2019t ask you to respond once action is already underway.<\/p>\n We know that the allegations are very serious, and we\u2019re taking them very seriously. And since we aren\u2019t seeing the due process we\u2019d expect, here, for now, let me at least put the record straight on a few technical matters that appear to have been misrepresented in the recent media reports \u2013 a few explanations of what it is our software actually<\/em> does:<\/p>\n The functionality of our products depends entirely on the<\/strong> code of our applications and the records in our databases<\/strong> \u2013 no mysterious magic here (just like there\u2019s no mysterious magic with all other software companies\u2019 products). And all our products and databases are all openly accessible on public servers. All our old products and former updates \u2013 in backups. If in any of it there\u2019s any undeclared (espionage) functionality that violates the confidentiality of data of our users \u2013 do tell us the name of the product, the name of the module, and where the suspected code is, or the number of the update and the record identifier. That\u2019s the information we\u2019d be ready to look at \u2013 with the utmost seriousness. If there\u2019s no information like that in any media report with accusations aimed at us, such a report is based on known-to-be lies, or simply repeated lies and falsifications of someone else.<\/p>\n How our products work is determined exclusively by the logic of the algorithms in the program modules and contents of our databases.<\/strong> The last time we conducted a full audit of the source code of our products and database records was in spring-summer of 2015 since our own network had been compromised by the Duqu 2<\/a> espionage malware. And we found zero bugs, zero backdoors \u2013 not in our products, not in our databases, not in our updates. We\u2019re conducting a similar audit right now. And we\u2019re inviting external expert IT-security observers too. And I\u2019m absolutely certain nothing untoward will be found.<\/p>\n Yes, our products do conduct deep scanning of a computer and its files (as does all software in the \u2018utility\u2019 category).<\/strong> We do test files for the presence of malicious code. We do specially track and evaluate suspicious behavior of unknown objects in a system. And yes, we do \u2013 in full accordance with declared functionality<\/a> and industry standards \u2013 send data on such objects to the cloud for further analysis (if the user has decided to go for this option). And this is how any antivirus worth its salt works. Any why? It\u2019s all for one purpose: a finely-tuned, fully-optimized ability to do nothing but catch malware, neutralize it, and so protect our users. And we happen to be the best in the world<\/a> at it. Our mission is to protect our users and their data. Surveillance, snooping, spying, eavesdropping\u2026 all that is done by espionage agencies (which we occasionally catch out<\/a> and tell the world<\/a> about), not us.<\/p>\n In the cyberworld, evidence usually means the names of the respective modules, location of the code, and its disassembler<\/a> (or its part). Indeed, it\u2019s details like these that make up the main findings in our expert reports on the world\u2019s most complex cyber-incidents (more on those \u2013 here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Again, we remain absolutely committed to the protection of our users, and we work hard every day to do it better than anyone else. We\u2019ve asked those with any relevant information to share it with us so we can do everything possible to fulfill our mission. Buy one of our boxed products in the nearest supermarket or an online version \u2013 analyze it, decompile it, and let us hear your findings! But we know we can\u2019t wait for folks to come to us. Therefore, we\u2019ll do everything we can to respond to the stated concerns by being fully transparent about our efforts and our findings. Our customers deserve nothing less.<\/p>\n In closing, I once again declare:<\/p>\n The main priority of our company is the protection of our users from all types of cyberthreats, no matter their origin. We do this better than anyone else. And that\u2019s nothing to be ashamed of \u2013 only proud of.<\/strong><\/p>\n Sincerely yours, Eugene Kaspersky responds in detail to recent allegations about his company and the Russian government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":19859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2684],"tags":[2716,906,352,472,741,2705,97],"class_list":{"0":"post-19860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-special-projects","9":"tag-banya","10":"tag-cia","11":"tag-kaspersky-lab","12":"tag-media","13":"tag-nsa","14":"tag-russian-hackers","15":"tag-security-2"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/whats-going-on\/19860\/"},{"hreflang":"en-in","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.in\/blog\/whats-going-on\/11621\/"},{"hreflang":"en-ae","url":"https:\/\/me-en.kaspersky.com\/blog\/whats-going-on\/9708\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/whats-going-on\/13061\/"},{"hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.uk\/blog\/whats-going-on\/11968\/"},{"hreflang":"es-mx","url":"https:\/\/latam.kaspersky.com\/blog\/whats-going-on\/11605\/"},{"hreflang":"es","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.es\/blog\/whats-going-on\/14623\/"},{"hreflang":"it","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.it\/blog\/whats-going-on\/14345\/"},{"hreflang":"tr","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.tr\/blog\/whats-going-on\/4310\/"},{"hreflang":"pt-br","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.br\/blog\/whats-going-on\/9771\/"},{"hreflang":"pl","url":"https:\/\/plblog.kaspersky.com\/whats-going-on\/8352\/"},{"hreflang":"de","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.de\/blog\/whats-going-on\/15005\/"},{"hreflang":"ja","url":"https:\/\/blog.kaspersky.co.jp\/whats-going-on\/18482\/"},{"hreflang":"en-au","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.au\/blog\/whats-going-on\/18935\/"},{"hreflang":"en-za","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.za\/blog\/whats-going-on\/18939\/"}],"acf":[],"banners":"","maintag":{"url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/tag\/banya\/","name":"banya"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19861,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19860\/revisions\/19861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nE.K.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"