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posted by janrinok on Sunday March 22 2015, @01:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-spy-with-my-little-computer dept.

Recently, we have reported several claims (here, here, and here) made by the Russian security software manufacturer Kaspersky Lab that they have discovered 'evidence' of NSA involvement in malware. Now, Bloomberg claims that the Moscow-based computer security company has effectively been taken over by the FSB. Company founder Eugene Kaspersky was educated at a KBG-run school, which was never a secret, but the new report describes a much more current and intimate connection.

Kaspersky Lab is denying the allegations, as one might expect, and counter with the statement:

It's not as though the US has clean hands in all of this. The CIA has funded the development of security software firms like FireEye, Veracode, and Hytrust though its In-Q-Tel investment fund, and American firms have been noticeably silent when it comes to investigating suspected US state-sponsored malware.

We are unlikely to hear the truth from either side, nor should we realistically expect a confession from the NSA or the FSB. Nevertheless, it is possible that the security industries on both sides are 'guilty' of looking after their respective government's interests and what we are seeing is just another day in the world of intelligence collection and cyber-security, the world of claim and counter-claim.

[Editor's Comment: Typo fixed at 15:39 UTC]

 
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2015, @02:14PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 22 2015, @02:14PM (#161113)

    That statement seems to be an admission rather than a denial.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by M. Baranczak on Sunday March 22 2015, @03:34PM

    by M. Baranczak (1673) on Sunday March 22 2015, @03:34PM (#161140)

    That statement seems to be an admission rather than a denial.

    That statement is also part of a long and proud Russian tradition. [wikipedia.org]

    And if you put your trust in any "security software" company, you're a sucker.

    • (Score: 2) by Adamsjas on Sunday March 22 2015, @05:37PM

      by Adamsjas (4507) on Sunday March 22 2015, @05:37PM (#161181)

      Agreed, it does look like a case excuse via blame deflection.

      Quote: It's not as though the US has clean hands in all of this.

      You might expect that response from a Russian Government point of view.
      But from Kaspersky is looks very suspicious. (Especially when they claim to be a British company.) If you sell a commercial anti-malware product you don't start out blaming the government, any government, especially when your software doesn't successfully detect any of those alleged government sponsored malware.