Kaspersky Lab, a Russian software firm that specializes in anti-virus and cybersecurity, has been desperately trying to prove that it is not involved in spying after being linked to a 2015 NSA hack. However and with the U.S. government treating the company as a Trojan horse for Russian espionage (and the Christopher Steele dossier alleging that the company’s espionage was more successful against private networks than government ones), it’s probably only a matter of time before the extent of Kaspersky’s problems become known.
According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. military intelligence has considered Kaspersky a security threat since 2004 when it first started producing reports describing the company “as a threat actor.” The Defense Intelligence Agency also ordered a Defense Department-wide threat assessment of Kasperksy in 2013, according to a an email from the Pentagon to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Here’s more:
A top Pentagon cybersecurity official, Essye Miller told the committee at a hearing this week that the Defense Department hadn’t used Kaspersky products because of intelligence information regarding the firm.
Still, other federal agencies didn’t follow the same precautions and used Kaspersky products. Jeanette Manfra, a top Department of Homeland Security official, said at the hearing that roughly 15% of the federal agencies that checked to see if Kaspersky was operating on their systems found the company’s products. DHS has set a Dec. 12 deadline for all U.S. government agencies to remove the firm’s software.
Kaspersky has maintained that it doesn’t assist the Russian government with spying and it would be more than happy to work with the United States “to address any and all concerns and further collaborate to mitigate against cyber threats, regardless of their origin or purpose.”
(Via Wall Street Journal)