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Kaspersky To Close Washington Office But Expand Non-State Sales (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: A Russian software-maker, whose products are banned for use in federal information systems by the U.S. government, is seeking to remain in the North American market and prove its products have no hidden capabilities. Kaspersky Lab Inc. will close its Washington D.C. office that was selling to the government and will keep working with non-federal customers in the U.S. via its remaining offices in the country, vice-president Anton Shingarev said in an interview in Moscow. The company also committed in October to open its product's source code to an independent third-party review and plans to open new offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto next year. "This allows independent experts to verify that our software has no hidden functionality, that it doesn't send your files to third parties, doesn't spy on you and fully complies with the end-user agreement," Shingarev said. The U.S. banned government use of Kaspersky software in September, citing founder Eugene Kaspersky's alleged ties to Russian intelligence and the possibility its products could function as "malicious actors" to compromise federal information systems. The move caused concern about the company's products in other markets, including the U.K.
I have yet to see a compelling argument as to why I wouldn't use their product as a regular citizen. They do nothing different than any other anti-virus product when it comes to handling files. The only thing different than most is that their home country is Russia. Its not like the U.S. government doesn't have the exact same powers to subpoena a U.S. companies data, that the Russian government doesn't have to do to their own companies.
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"I didn't do it" - B. Simpson
See? Here's some source code to review. And, here's a compiled binary that we promise, really, only contains that code. And all of our recurring updates will only be the same code you reviewed. Promise.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
I can understand the government not wanting another government spying on them, but as an individual, if I am going to have a government spying on me, I would rather that it be a foreign one.
-- http://anonet.org -- The internet the way it was meant to be. Check it out, you may be surprised.
Everyone here probably already knows this but... Most software today is delivered AUTOMATICALLY in binary form. Most programs automatically download new binaries as soon as the developers make them available and happily installs and runs them, often without notifying you. Most people get all exited they are getting the "latest version" and generally consider this to be a good thing. The gigantic trust problem with automated binary software delivery is... even if you certify the software is A-OK today, they can push a new version to you tomorrow. that is NOT OK. This brings into question not what the software is, but what the developers might make of it some day in the future.
I went out of my way yesterday to buy Kaspersky AV since the US and EU decided to vilify them. Because screw 3 letter agencies.
You make it sound like there are only two choices: compromise your machine for the Americans or the Russians. Um, how about neither! Plus it's the "it's okay to have my machine compromised" attitude that seems so shilly (if that's a thing).
What he meant is if the TLA demonize Kaspersky, that is because it throws a wrench in the gears of their evil works.
And if you attempt to imply that TLAs are there to save the day for Average Joe, you watch way too many BS movies. They are actually likely to let a bombing plot that they know of be executed to capitalize on the tragedy and expand their illegal spying program.
I'm more concerned over the US government sanctioned Intel ME Backdoors contained in many of Intel's X86 processors.