Decoding Kasperksy

http://fortune.com/2017/07/16/kaspersky-russia-us/

Although various internet blowhards are hard at work asking for "More information to be released" regarding why the US is throwing Kaspersky under the bus, that's never going to happen. It's honestly easiest to get in the press by pretending to be in disbelief as to what the United States is doing in situations like this.

I say pretend because, it's really pretty clear what the US is saying. They are saying, through leaks and not-so-subtle hints, that Kasperksy was involved in Russian operations. It's not about "being close to the Kremlin" or historical ties between Eugene Kaspersky and the FSB or some kind of DDoS prevention software. Those are not actionable in the way this has been messaged at the highest levels. It's not some sort of nebulous "Russian Software" risk. It's about a line being crossed operationally.

The only question is whether you believe Eugene Kaspersky, who denies anything untoward, or the US Intelligence Community, which has used its strongest language and spokespeople as part of this effort and has no plans to release evidence.

And, in this particular case, the UK intel team (which has no doubt seen the evidence) is backing the US up, which is worth noting, and they are doing it in their customary subtle but unmistakable way, by saying at no point was Kaspersky software ever certified by their NCSC.

The question for security consultants, such as Immunity, is how do we advise our US-based clients - and looking at the evidence, you would have to advise them to stop using Kaspersky software. Perhaps your clients are better off with VenusTech?

I'm pretty sure this AV company is deceased!