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Kaspersky Lab Counters Speculation of Russia Government Ties

Kaspersky Lab, once again, has denied speculation of ties to the Russian government. CEO and co-founder Eugene Kaspersky, a Russian entrepreneur, will host a Reddit Ask Me Anything session on Thursday, May 11, to further counter the alleged ties.

Conspiracy theorists from time to time have wondered if Kaspersky Lab is somehow associated with the Russian government. Each time such a rumor emerged, the security company flatly and strongly denied such connections.

The latest speculation surfaced again this week. According to Buzzfeed:

"US intelligence officials are expressing concern over a Russian cybersecurity company’s access to US government systems and pushing the General Services Administration for answers on how long it has been approved for use by US agencies."

But here's the twist: The Buzzfeed story flatly stated:

"The officials said that they had not seen any evidence linking Kaspersky to the Kremlin’s election operation, but said the concerns are, instead, stemming from broader concern over Russian meddling in US affairs."

Um: Does anybody have any evidence against Kaspersky Lab? Bueller? Bueller?

For its part, Kaspersky Lab has strongly denied the speculative theme of the Buzzfeed story. The security company issued a statement to all media that said:

“As a private company, Kaspersky Lab has no ties to any government, and the company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts. The company has a 20 year history in the IT security industry of always abiding by the highest ethical business practices, and Kaspersky Lab believes it is completely unacceptable that the company is being unjustly accused without any hard evidence to back up these false allegations. Kaspersky Lab is available to assist all concerned government organizations with any ongoing investigations, and the company ardently believes a deeper examination of Kaspersky Lab will confirm that these allegations are unfounded.”

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.