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What is interesting about Kaspersky is how little Russian state malware / spying tools they find / report on at least in comparison to what they discussion abou

What is interesting about Kaspersky is how little Russian state malware / spying tools they find / report on at least in comparison to what they discussion about such software from other countries.

jeletonskelly 8y ago
Interesting, but not all that surprising. At this point it's fair to assume most security research institutions are co-opted to some degree by intelligence agencies.
- CiPHPerCoder 8y ago
  Whether or not that's true will vary wildly depending on where the institutions are located and who their clients are.
- JaimeThompson 8y ago
  You are correct on most being co-opted but they don't yell from the rooftops like Kaspersky does that they are fully independent. I have loads of emails from Kaspersky explaining how they aren't yet their actions don't support their PR.
  - Arnt 8y ago
    I'm curious. Can you be more specific? Describe some of these actions explicitly?
    - JaimeThompson 8y ago
      They, Kaspersky, have sent out lots of emails to partners and resellers saying how they are independent of Russian government melding which isn't exactly the most honest read of the situation. Comments like this, from Kaspersky PR, are interesting don't you think? "Kaspersky Lab has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage or offensive cyber efforts, and it's disconcerting that a private company can be treated as guilty merely due to geopolitical issues." This tells some of it but I would recommend you do some checking yourself. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/15/kaspersky_labs_announces_move_to_zurich_dutch_government_questions_firm/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/15/kaspersky_labs_anno...
      - Arnt 8y ago
        That part is about what Kaspersky says. That part is okay. The more curious part is the other part: What Kaspersky does, or does not. You, for example, do not say "here are links to Avast's web site for 2/5/10/20 Russian threats that Avast detects and Kaspersky doesn't". All you do is link to more innuendo and suspicion. In this age of databases that suspicion ought eventually to show up in database records.
cfv 8y ago
You mean when compared with who exactly
simias 8y ago
Not really surprising but also not necessarily a bad thing. If Russian companies blow the whistle publicly on "western" backdoors and security researchers elsewhere blow the whistle on Russian backdoors we're all better off, aren't we?
- nannal 8y ago
  Five eye-lids?
qaq 8y ago
I am pretty sure Kaspersky is very cosy with FSB but I am not aware of large US companies going after NSA tools either.
viraptor 8y ago
> how little Russian state malware / spying tools they find Do you have some source/stats on that? It seems plausible, but I haven't really seen this mentioned anywhere before.
duxup 8y ago
That seems like a matter of survival. Expose your local non democratic host nation who is already known for dealing out retribution outside their own borders, and there will be consequences.... Kaspersky doesn't even have to have anyone tell them that for there to be an impact. Kaspersky's analysis and information they choose to share may be accurate (and let's be clear I'm sure they also don't share some western tidbits if "asked"). At the same time some of their data, simply due to their location, we can assume their choices on what / how they share is skewed. That's not a recrimination directed at the individuals there, just a recognition of a fact of life for them.
Someone1234 8y ago
Just like US AV vendors don't find US state malware / spying tools. That's the game I guess, but let's not act like Kaspersky are an exception, they're playing by the same rules as everyone else. As an end user you should consider if your AV vendor's country of origin is compatible with your own interests.
drharby 8y ago
Kaspersky was founded by a Soviet military officer. This is intuitive if you consider that.
- lawnchair_larry 8y ago
  In a country with mandatory military service, this is a meaningless fact.
  - Raz2 8y ago
    Being a private for 1 year and graduating from a military academy and serving for decades as an officer is not the same.
- Fins 8y ago
  Kaspersky was (is?) a KGB/FSB man anyway.
keyme 8y ago
Kaspersky is an arm of Russian intelligence.
badrabbit 8y ago
First of,so what? Why don't you also mention why FireEye and Crowdstrike aren't finding western APT groups. They don't even properly track and document western actors and their TTP!! At least kaspersky names and tracks russian intelligence (e.g.: what CS calls apt28 and FireEye calls Sofacy is named Turla by Kaspersky). Unless of course you're saying american and british actors pause no threat to anyone. Second, not true at all. Plenty of apt groups have been written up by secure labs that are russian state associated.

What is interesting about Kaspersky is how little Russian state malware / spying tools they find / report on at least in comparison to what they discussion about such software from other countries.

jeletonskelly 8y ago

Interesting, but not all that surprising. At this point it's fair to assume most security research institutions are co-opted to some degree by intelligence agencies.

CiPHPerCoder 8y ago
Whether or not that's true will vary wildly depending on where the institutions are located and who their clients are.
JaimeThompson 8y ago
You are correct on most being co-opted but they don't yell from the rooftops like Kaspersky does that they are fully independent. I have loads of emails from Kaspersky explaining how they aren't yet their actions don't support their PR.
- Arnt 8y ago
  I'm curious. Can you be more specific? Describe some of these actions explicitly?
  - JaimeThompson 8y ago
    They, Kaspersky, have sent out lots of emails to partners and resellers saying how they are independent of Russian government melding which isn't exactly the most honest read of the situation. Comments like this, from Kaspersky PR, are interesting don't you think? "Kaspersky Lab has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage or offensive cyber efforts, and it's disconcerting that a private company can be treated as guilty merely due to geopolitical issues." This tells some of it but I would recommend you do some checking yourself. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/15/kaspersky_labs_announces_move_to_zurich_dutch_government_questions_firm/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/15/kaspersky_labs_anno...
    - Arnt 8y ago
      That part is about what Kaspersky says. That part is okay. The more curious part is the other part: What Kaspersky does, or does not. You, for example, do not say "here are links to Avast's web site for 2/5/10/20 Russian threats that Avast detects and Kaspersky doesn't". All you do is link to more innuendo and suspicion. In this age of databases that suspicion ought eventually to show up in database records.

cfv 8y ago

You mean when compared with who exactly

simias 8y ago

Not really surprising but also not necessarily a bad thing. If Russian companies blow the whistle publicly on "western" backdoors and security researchers elsewhere blow the whistle on Russian backdoors we're all better off, aren't we?

nannal 8y ago
Five eye-lids?

qaq 8y ago

I am pretty sure Kaspersky is very cosy with FSB but I am not aware of large US companies going after NSA tools either.

viraptor 8y ago

> how little Russian state malware / spying tools they find Do you have some source/stats on that? It seems plausible, but I haven't really seen this mentioned anywhere before.

duxup 8y ago

That seems like a matter of survival. Expose your local non democratic host nation who is already known for dealing out retribution outside their own borders, and there will be consequences.... Kaspersky doesn't even have to have anyone tell them that for there to be an impact. Kaspersky's analysis and information they choose to share may be accurate (and let's be clear I'm sure they also don't share some western tidbits if "asked"). At the same time some of their data, simply due to their location, we can assume their choices on what / how they share is skewed. That's not a recrimination directed at the individuals there, just a recognition of a fact of life for them.

Someone1234 8y ago

Just like US AV vendors don't find US state malware / spying tools. That's the game I guess, but let's not act like Kaspersky are an exception, they're playing by the same rules as everyone else. As an end user you should consider if your AV vendor's country of origin is compatible with your own interests.

drharby 8y ago

Kaspersky was founded by a Soviet military officer. This is intuitive if you consider that.

lawnchair_larry 8y ago
In a country with mandatory military service, this is a meaningless fact.
- Raz2 8y ago
  Being a private for 1 year and graduating from a military academy and serving for decades as an officer is not the same.
Fins 8y ago
Kaspersky was (is?) a KGB/FSB man anyway.

keyme 8y ago

Kaspersky is an arm of Russian intelligence.

badrabbit 8y ago

First of,so what? Why don't you also mention why FireEye and Crowdstrike aren't finding western APT groups. They don't even properly track and document western actors and their TTP!! At least kaspersky names and tracks russian intelligence (e.g.: what CS calls apt28 and FireEye calls Sofacy is named Turla by Kaspersky). Unless of course you're saying american and british actors pause no threat to anyone. Second, not true at all. Plenty of apt groups have been written up by secure labs that are russian state associated.