The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has repeated its warning about Kaspersky.
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BSI repeats allegations against Kaspersky
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Eugene Kaspersky has heavily criticized the warning from the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) against Kaspersky virus protection software. The Russian security expert accused the BSI of only having made its decision for political reasons. Kaspersky even described the BSI’s approach as an insult and spoke of “false and unfounded allegations”. You can read Kaspersky’s open letter in German here.
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We asked the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) on March 17, 2022, 9:45 a.m. for a statement on the allegations. We were particularly interested in what the BSI says about the accusation that the warning was based on a political decision. At 4:12 p.m. on March 24, we finally received an answer from the BSI. But although the authority needed a week for the answer, the “statement” consisted of copy & paste from the FAQ of the BSI.
Specifically, the spokeswoman for the BSI copied the first paragraph from the Kaspersky FAQ into the email to us; the statements made in it were essentially already in the press release of March 15:
“Antivirus software has deep rights of intervention in PCs, smartphones, laptops and other IT infrastructures. Trust in the reliability and self-protection of the respective manufacturer as well as his authentic ability to act is therefore crucial for the safe use of such systems. If there are doubts about this, virus protection software poses a particular risk for an IT infrastructure to be protected, precisely because of its low rights of intervention. In the context of the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine, a Russian IT manufacturer could conduct offensive operations itself, or be forced to attack target systems against its will, or be spied on as a victim of a cyber operation without its knowledge, or be a tool for attacks be abused against its own customers. All users of the virus protection software can be affected by such operations, companies and authorities with special security interests and operators of critical infrastructures in particular. The BSI therefore recommends replacing applications from Kaspersky’s portfolio of virus protection software with alternative products.”
The football club Eintracht Frankfurt ended its cooperation with Kaspersky as a sponsor after the BSI warning was published: Eintracht Frankfurt is kicking out Kaspersky as a sponsor. A few days of waiting had preceded this, during which Eintracht initially announced that they wanted to continue working together: Kaspersky – the partnership with Eintracht Frankfurt will remain in place.
Eugene Kaspersky criticizes BSI: Attack on German consumers
BSI warns against Kaspersky virus protection software!
