Kaspersky Lab, UK cyber center in talks on firm’s software safety

MOSCOW, Dec 4 (PRIME) -- Russian antivirus software maker Kaspersky Lab is discussing with the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) elaboration of an independent verification of safety of the company’s products and services mechanism, Kaspersky Lab said on December 2.

The U.K. government departments responsible for national security were earlier banned from using Kaspersky’s software as concern grows that its products are being used as an intelligence-gathering tool by the Kremlin.

The Financial Times earlier reported that in a letter to the top officials of all government departments, the NCSC, a branch of the U.K.’s eavesdropping service GCHQ, warned that Kaspersky Lab’s popular antivirus software posed a risk as Russia ramps up a campaign of espionage and disruption against western states.

“The NCSC publication confirms that the current ban is based exclusively on analysis of potential risks, rather than on proof of any breaches on the part of Kaspersky Lab. It’s important to notice that the NCSC does not call on companies or private users to abandon Kaspersky Lab’s products,” the company said.

“In October 2017, Kaspersky Lab announced the launch of a global initiative on information openness, within which the firm will conduct independent scrutiny of the source code of its software, an independent assessment of processes of development, and will establish three centers of transparency in various regions of the world, and raise remuneration under its bug bounty program (bonuses paid for vulnerabilities discovered in its software) to U.S. $100,000.”

The U.S. also earlier ordered its government and related companies to start abandoning Kaspersky’s products, which could be allegedly used to undermine the country’s national security.

End