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Moscow Has Turned Kaspersky Antivirus Software Into a Global Spy Tool, Using It To Scan Computers For Secret US Data (wsj.com)
WSJ has a major scoop today. From a report: The Russian government used a popular antivirus software to secretly scan computers around the world for classified U.S. government documents and top-secret information, modifying the program to turn it into an espionage tool (could be paywalled), according to current and former U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. The software, made by the Moscow-based company Kaspersky Lab, routinely scans files of computers on which it is installed looking for viruses and other malicious software. But in an adjustment to its normal operations that the officials say could only have been made with the company's knowledge, the program searched for terms as broad as "top secret," which may be written on classified government documents, as well as the classified code names of U.S. government programs, these people said. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Russian hackers used Kaspersky's software in 2015 to target a contractor working for the National Security Agency, who had removed classified materials from his workplace and put them on his home computer, which was running the program. The hackers stole highly classified information on how the NSA conducts espionage and protects against incursions by other countries, said people familiar with the matter. But the use of the Kaspersky program to spy on the U.S. is broader and more pervasive than the operation against that one individual, whose name hasn't been publicly released, current and former officials said. This link should get you around WSJ's paywall. Also read: Israeli Spies 'Watched Russian Agents Breach Kaspersky Software'
...WSJ has a major scoop today.:...
From the WSJ article itself:
...Israel’s spying on Kaspersky, which U.S. officials said provided crucial evidence that Kaspersky Lab was working with the Russian government, and the use of Kaspersky to scan for classified keywords was first reported Tuesday by the New York Times. ...
[my emphasis] The NYTimes may not be my favorite newspaper, but credit where credit isude, eh?
Generally, allies don't have missiles pointed at each other, nor do they have missile defense systems to block the other's missiles.
According to the State Department, officially, Russia is not our ally. If you disagree, don't argue with me, take it up with Rex Tillerson and Donald Trump.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Regarding the NSA contractor, it sounds like Kaspersky AV was working as designed. It detected the malware the contractor was working on and sent the file back to Kaspersky Labs for analysis. It sounds to me like the NSA's security policy needs some work if a contractor can download classified files to a non-secure computer.
Now as far as Kaspersky AV scanning for classified documents, that's certainly plausible but where's the evidence? Not running the software on sensitive computers sounds like good policy, but there's a lot of software that shouldn't be run on those types of systems. That being said, how do we know all foreign made computers themselves haven't been compromised at the factory?