Kaspersky, Russia, and the Antivirus Paradox

[Onkel Neal]

“Kaspersky Lab has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts, and contrary to erroneous reports, Kaspersky Lab software does not contain any undeclared capabilities such as backdoors as that would be illegal and unethical,” the company says in an emailed statement.

Yeah, right.

So, knowing how much access the Russian dictator has in businesses inside the country, why is it surprising that someone finally woke up to the risk of having a Russian antivirus posed? If Putin was to "ask" Kaspersky to use their AV for govt. actions, you know they certainly would. Who wants to be the next Voronenkov or Magnitsky ?

After months of escalating hostility toward the Russian cybersecurity company and antivirus maker Kaspersky, including its complete banishment from US government agency computers, the New York Times reports that Russia has in fact used Kaspersky antivirus software to probe federal systems for US intelligence secrets.

“AV is pretty much the perfect bugging device on every computer it’s sold on,” says Bobby Kuzma, systems engineer at Core Security. “You’ve got this piece of software that’s in a position to see everything on your computer.”

https://www.wired.com/story/kaspersky-russia-antivirus/