Eugene Kaspersky criticizes the BSI’s warning of Kaspersky virus protection in an open letter. In it, Kaspersky uses the term “war,” which the Putin regime has avoided as much as possible.
Enlarge
The Kaspersky Lab sign above the Kaspersky Lab headquarters in Moscow.
© Tatiana Belova/Shutterstock.com
Update 17.3.:
Eugene Kaspersky, the founder and head of the security company Kaspersky, wants to publish an open letter to the BSI on his company’s website today. This is reported by Spiegel Online, which received the letter in advance. In the letter, Kaspersky criticizes the BSI’s decision as unjustified.
The allegations by the BSI are “pure speculation that are not supported by any objective evidence or technical details,” quotes the mirror from the letter. Kaspersky sees the warning as a political decision that may not even have been made by the BSI itself. Kaspersky is probably alluding to the fact that the BSI, as a federal authority, reports to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Kaspersky even goes so far as to claim that the warning from the BSI would endanger IT security in Germany.
You can read the full length of Eugene Kaspersky’s open letter “Collateral damage – for cybersecurity” here on spiegel.de.
It is indeed remarkable that Eugene Kaspersky speaks of a “war” in the Ukraine – this does not correspond to the progagandistic choice of words for the Russian media prescribed by the Putin regime, which completely avoids the term “war”.
update end
The Federal Office for Information Security BSI warns against Kaspersky virus protection software. Users of Kaspersky software should switch to alternatives, the best alternatives to Kaspersky can be found here in the test. PC-WELT asked Kaspersky for a statement. These were sent to us by Kaspersky, which is also a sponsor of Eintracht Frankfurt, and we reproduce them here in full (
quote beginning
):
“At Kaspersky, we believe that transparency and the continued implementation of concrete actions that demonstrate our ongoing commitment to integrity and trustworthiness to our customers are of the utmost importance.
Kaspersky is a privately held global cybersecurity company, and as a private company, Kaspersky has no ties to the Russian or any other government.
We believe that peaceful dialogue is the only possible tool to resolve conflicts. War is good for nobody.
We have relocated our data processing infrastructure to Switzerland: since 2018, malicious and suspicious files voluntarily passed on by users of Kaspersky products in Germany have been processed in two data centers in Zurich. These data centers meet best-in-class industry standards and ensure the highest level of security. In addition to our data processing facilities in Switzerland, the statistics submitted by users to Kaspersky may be processed via the Kaspersky Security Network in various countries around the world, including Canada and Germany. The security and integrity of our data services and technical practices have been confirmed by independent third-party assessments: by the SOC 2 audit by a “Big Four” auditor and by ISO 27001 certification and recent re-certification by TÜV Austria.
Kaspersky has set the industry benchmark for digital trust and transparency. Our customers have the opportunity to carry out a free technical and comprehensive review of our solutions:
-
Review our secure software development documentation, including threat analysis, security review, and application security testing procedures;
-
Insight into the source code of our leading solutions, including: Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS), our leading consumer product; Kaspersky Endpoint Security (KES), our leading enterprise solution; and Kaspersky Security Center (KSC), a control console for our enterprise products;
-
Reviewing all versions of our builds and AV database updates, and the types of information that Kaspersky products generally send to the cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network (KSN);
-
Rebuild of the source code to ensure it conforms to publicly available modules;
-
Reviewing the results of an external audit of the company’s technical practices conducted by one of the Big Four accounting firms;
-
Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) review for Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS), our flagship consumer product, Kaspersky Endpoint Security (KES), our leading enterprise solution, and Kaspersky Security Center (KSC), a control panel for our enterprise products.
We believe that this decision (Editor’s note: the BSI’s warning is meant) is not based on the technical evaluation of Kaspersky products – which we have repeatedly campaigned for at the BSI and throughout Europe – but rather it was taken for political reasons. We assure our partners and customers of the quality and integrity of our products and will work with the BSI to clarify the decision and address the concerns of the BSI or other regulators.”
Quote end
Safety reasons: No more pictures from German Autobahn webcams
Kaspersky: Partnership with Eintracht Frankfurt will remain
