Russian security specialist Kaspersky sees no technical reasons for the warning from the German federal cybersecurity authority about the use of the antivirus software. “A purely political decision,” it sounds.
The German Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) advises companies to stop using antivirus software from the Russian company Kaspersky. The antivirus vendor is clearly ‘not amused’. “This decision is not based on a technical assessment of our products but on political grounds,” the company said in a detailed response. In the statement, Kaspersky said it would continue to work with BSI to clarify the decision and completely address the concerns of BSI “and other regulators”.
It is not the first time that confidence in Kaspersky has been questioned. In 2017, for example, Kaspersky was barred as a software supplier for the US government due to possible ties with Russia; Europol also ended its cooperation with the company.
Kaspersky now says in the press release that it is “a global private cybersecurity company” and that it has “no ties to the Russian or any other government”. The company also notes that independent agencies and an unnamed’ big four’ auditor have confirmed the security and integrity of its data services and engineering.
Finally, to reassure customers, the company also states that anyone can and may view the full documentation and source code of all software. This concerns both consumer software and solutions for companies such as Kaspersky Endpoint Security (KES) and Kaspersky Security Center (KSC).
