[elago]

They're a Russian company and semi-recently Trump banned their software from government agencies.

People theorize they're controlled by the Russian government but I've never come across any evidence that they're anything other than a top tier security company though.

They have done some fairly bold moves in the past though, like cleverly calling out other AV companies that were copying their detections [0] and kind of embarrassing the NSA [1] when a NSA employee took their malware/cyber weapons home to their PC running Kaspersky AV, which detected the malware and sent it back to Kaspersky server for analysis.

[0]https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/10/kaspersky_malware_d...

[1] https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/nsa-employee-...

[johnwbyrd]

In Kaspersky's defense, they have started making their source code auditable for certain customers. Kaspersky is well aware of how they are perceived as a company, and they are aware that if anyone ever traces any of their activities back to the KGB, it's game over for them. I can't pretend I trust Kaspersky 100%, but I can see why others might.

[hutzlibu]

From:

"[0]https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/10/kaspersky_malware_d...

"I've received feedback from people who were just focusing on the question why other anti-virus companies would detect a clean file we uploaded. And I can only repeat as I did in the blog: This could have happened to us as well," Kalkuhl explained."

Well, he clearly says, the test was to expose the "negative effect of cheap static on-demand tests" and not that others copied from them, because this seems to be routine and they do the same.

[at-fates-hands]

> They're a Russian company and semi-recently Trump banned their software from government agencies.

I know it's popular to bash Trump, but it was the DHS that banned the software, not Trump:

In a binding directive, acting homeland security secretary Elaine Duke ordered that federal civilian agencies identify Kaspersky Lab software on their networks. After 90 days, unless otherwise directed, they must remove the software, on the grounds that the company has connections to the Russian government and its software poses a security risk.

Which came after the GSA removed them from the list of approved vendors:

The directive comes months after the federal General Services Administration, the agency in charge of government purchasing, removed Kaspersky from its list of approved vendors. In doing so, the GSA suggested a vulnerability exists with Kaspersky that could give the Kremlin backdoor access to the systems the company protects.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-to...