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Kaspersky Lab is willing to go to extreme lengths to reassure the U.S. government about the security of its products:
Eugene Kaspersky is willing to turn over computer code to United States authorities to prove that his company's security products have not been compromised by the Russian government, The Associated Press reported early Sunday.
"If the United States needs, we can disclose the source code," said the creator of beleaguered Moscow-based computer security company Kaspersky Lab in an interview with the AP.
"Anything I can do to prove that we don't behave maliciously I will do it."
Also at Neowin.
In Worrisome Move, Kaspersky Agrees to Turn Over Source Code to US Government
Over the last couple of weeks, there's been a disturbing trend of governments demanding that private tech companies share their source code if they want to do business. Now, the US government is giving the same ultimatum and it's getting what it wants.
On Sunday, the CEO of security firm Kaspersky Labs, Eugene Kaspersky, told the Associated Press that he's willing to show the US government his company's source code. "Anything I can do to prove that we don't behave maliciously I will do it," Kaspersky said while insisting that he's open to testifying before Congress as well.
The company's willingness to share its source code comes after a proposal was put forth in the Senate that "prohibits the [Defense Department] from using software platforms developed by Kaspersky Lab." It goes on to say, "The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that any network connection between ... the Department of Defense and a department or agency of the United States Government that is using or hosting on its networks a software platform [associated with Kaspersky Lab] is immediately severed."
Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat tells ABC News, that there is "a consensus in Congress and among administration officials that Kaspersky Lab cannot be trusted to protect critical infrastructure." The fears follow years of suspicion from the FBI that Kaspersky Labs is too close to the Russian government. The company is based in Russia but has worked with both Moscow and the FBI in the past, often serving as a go-between to help the two governments cooperate. "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," an official statement from Kaspersky Labs reads.
Source: Gizmodo
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @09:36AM (8 children)
It's very simple. The government should not be banning software without effectively irrefutable evidence of malfeasance. In this case it's clear such evidence does not exist. There's no security through obscurity here. If the government had solid evidence then source access would be more than sufficient to confirm or deny their suspicions. We are, terrifyingly naturally, turning into a country where people and companies who fall out of favor with 'the powers that be' are guilty until proven innocent. Pair this with the fact that we are now also increasingly more willing to shoot first and ask questions later, even preemptively, is making this a very dangerous path to go down.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday July 04 2017, @12:42PM
Are they banning you from running Kaspersky or are they banning it on their own computers?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Tuesday July 04 2017, @12:49PM (1 child)
Disagree. We're not talking about a criminal trial here.
If you want to join the military, they have a list of things that can immediately disqualify you. That's not because they mean you're definitely going to screw things up, it's more of a precaution. Is that totally unreasonable? No. It's just being practical.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @06:03PM
Those qualifications are specifically related to your performance. I think the analog would be more along the lines here is if the military started refusing admittance from anybody who was more than 1/8th Russian - even if they're a second generation American. I think it's perfectly reasonable to ban or restrict on just about anything that has a real and viable issue, but in this case it seems the only reason for banning Kaspersky was because it's developed by a Russian company.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @01:01PM (2 children)
So you say the government should not be free to decide what they run on their own computers?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @05:57PM (1 child)
They absolutely should. That is rather the point.
Banning software specifically prevents organizations from making their own decisions. To make matters even worse, these top-down level decisions are almost invariably based more on xenophobia and politics than valid concern. Hence the reason we have no Chinese astronauts on the ISS for example.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday July 04 2017, @06:36PM
You're the only one tossing around this banning word.
You, your school, your city planning department, the church, the dry-cleaners, can pretty much use any Kaspersky software they want. Its freely available. Its not Banned.
The General Services Admin does the purchasing for the US Government. Even top secret purchases go through the GSA (special branch). If they have orders not to buy Kaspersky then that's the way it is. Organizations within the US Government should definitely NOT be "making their own decisions" any more than they should be rolling their own encryption algorithms.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @06:31PM (1 child)
It should be illegal for the government to use any proprietary software, since the government should encourage freedom, independence, and education; proprietary software laughs in the face of all of those things. Additionally, our government should not be dependent on large corporations to do their computing and should be able to hire anyone they want to develop a piece of software.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 05 2017, @04:34PM
but it's patriotic to use american (yes, The America, motherfuckers!) slaveware to deny american children the technical knowledge necessary to free themselves from the tax funded plantation!