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FBI Warns US Private Sector To Cut Ties With Kaspersky (cyberscoop.com)
An anonymous reader quotes CyberScoop:
The FBI has been briefing private sector companies on intelligence claiming to show that the Moscow-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab is an unacceptable threat to national security, current and former senior U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell CyberScoop... The FBI's goal is to have U.S. firms push Kaspersky out of their systems as soon as possible or refrain from using them in new products or other efforts, the current and former officials say.
The FBI's counterintelligence section has been giving briefings since beginning of the year on a priority basis, prioritizing companies in the energy sector and those that use industrial control (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. In light of successive cyberattacks against the electric grid in Ukraine, the FBI has focused on this sector due to the critical infrastructure designation assigned to it by the Department of Homeland Security... The U.S. government's actions come as Russia is engaged in its own push to stamp American tech giants like Microsoft out of that country's systems.
Meanwhile Bloomberg Businessweek claims to have seen emails which "show that Kaspersky Lab has maintained a much closer working relationship with Russia's main intelligence agency, the FSB, than it has publicly admitted" -- and that Kaspersky Lab "confirmed the emails are authentic."
Kaspersky Lab told ZDNet they have not confirmed the emails' authenticity. A representative for Kaspersky Lab says that the company does not have "inappropriate" ties with any government, adding that "the company does regularly work with governments and law enforcement agencies around the world with the sole purpose of fighting cybercrime."
The FBI's counterintelligence section has been giving briefings since beginning of the year on a priority basis, prioritizing companies in the energy sector and those that use industrial control (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. In light of successive cyberattacks against the electric grid in Ukraine, the FBI has focused on this sector due to the critical infrastructure designation assigned to it by the Department of Homeland Security... The U.S. government's actions come as Russia is engaged in its own push to stamp American tech giants like Microsoft out of that country's systems.
Meanwhile Bloomberg Businessweek claims to have seen emails which "show that Kaspersky Lab has maintained a much closer working relationship with Russia's main intelligence agency, the FSB, than it has publicly admitted" -- and that Kaspersky Lab "confirmed the emails are authentic."
Kaspersky Lab told ZDNet they have not confirmed the emails' authenticity. A representative for Kaspersky Lab says that the company does not have "inappropriate" ties with any government, adding that "the company does regularly work with governments and law enforcement agencies around the world with the sole purpose of fighting cybercrime."
Government is telling you which software to use. You wouldn't want people to think you were a terrorist, would you?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
about ClamAV (Cisco), McAfee (or whatever it is called now.), Symantec (Garbage since the Norton buy and ruination.), and Defender (Microsoft, who according to the EULA for Windows, nevermind Defender, can scan all your files and report believed infringing files to whoever they want as well as remotely access any of your files for any reason including Law Enforcement usage.)
Given all of these, and Kaspersky's overall good (but definitely not perfect) reputation as an AV company dating back 15+ years, they seem far more trustworthy than 90 percent of the field. And given that most of that 90 percent of the field is intentionally or unwillingly stooges of the US Intelligence apparatus, I would say trusting Kaspersky, as long as you have a backup a/v application/network monitoring tool, is probably far safer than most of the alternatives you can currently get free or paid for.
As stated by pp and others: the FBI/NSA/CIA have all shown a lazy interest in compromising both domestic and foreign information security for their own purposes, while doing nothing to ensure even domestic services are sufficiently hardened to keep out foreign or domestic adversaries, of which there are thousands dedicated and with resources, and millions of 'fleas' who just need that one 'big score' to move up to the big leagues. Giving them those opportunities by compromising system integrity at the hardware, firmware, and os level is a crime against humanity. But it won't be until the digital equivalent of 9/11 happens that we will see even a half assed attempt to secure those backdoors, and no doubt it will only resort in less convenience to the owner of the device, while the hackers will still have the same level of fettered access that they did in the past.
I completely agree. I read this and think that I am now far more likely to use Kaspersky that I was before and I think many large businesses will think the same. The greatest cyber threats in recent years have come from the NSA, not Russia. There is a smear campaign under way and we are entering a new cold war that we may well lose. Europe have no intention of losing Russia as an ally because now they trade with them they see them as they are rather than as the propaganda paints them. This is not the 50s and the old style "Reds under the bed" propaganda does not work anymore. There is no evidence but of course they messed with our election just as we mess with their's. If they were better at it then learn from them and move on.
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
At least of the three, the US is still democratic and answerable to Congress.
... which is answerable to lobbyists, which are answerable to multinational corporations, which are answerable to the private banking system (of which the Federal Reserve and similar institutions in most other 1st-world nations are members).
Russia is among the few BRICS nations. Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. They said "hell no" to the private bankers running everything. It's no coincidence there is a concerted propaganda effort against Russia. The truth is, Putin is a chess player. He's one of the most rational leaders ever seen in recent history. He's good at not sabotaging himself. Our corporations are good at controlling media and issuing propaganda.