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posted by mrpg on Tuesday July 04 2017, @08:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the here-nsa-take-my-source-code dept.
Kaspersky Willing to Hand Source Code Over to U.S. Government

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


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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday July 04 2017, @07:15PM

    by frojack (1554) on Tuesday July 04 2017, @07:15PM (#534894) Journal

    What you say makes sense for Joe and Bob, Programmers from the Garage.

    But if you already have a reasonable market for a product, that contract will have to be REALLY REALLY big to make it worth the while.

    Selling 200 extra copies to East Bangladesh is NOT that attractive. Neither are 2 AM Tech support calls.

    In my day job, a decade ago, we refused source code turn over to Lebanon, and we provided source code to California (and regretted it when we found the source code in Google), and accepted Code Escrow agreements with 3 different State Governments and one Canadian Province. (We already had that set up, it was easy to add another name).

    In addition, our company always had a fear of "Growing to Death", gaining more customers than we could support or different language customers that force us to hire more people for tech support, translation, etc. Of course we focused on quality so that there were very few support issues.

    That Mythical Big Contract you talk about usually only comes after you ALREADY serve a sizable one.

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