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]
(Score: 1) by Mr Big in the Pants on Sunday March 22 2015, @07:28PM
Well that is how disinformation works most successfully and why the NSA are fools sitting on about zero credibility now.
You build credibility with the truth and then lie when its very important or in subtle ways that cannot be verified. The rest of the time you ensure you are a source of information.
This is what they are doing.
And did no one else immediately realize there was a 99% chance they were doing exactly this the first time they came out with their "discoveries" just as the US and Russia start bashing heads?
Security company in russia or china with no government collusion or interference? Comrade, please!?
I for one would NEVER have their software anywhere near my computer...