U.S. officials have said they are investigating the use of Russia's Kaspersky Lab by government departments, after concerns were raised that the software could be used to facilitate attacks on computer networks.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said at Thursday's Senate hearing on global security threats that lawmakers were "very concerned" about Kaspersky Labs and asked intelligence officials if they could confirm they did not have Kaspersky software on their networks.
"We are tracking Kaspersky and their software", said Vincent Stewart, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, according to Reuters. He does not elaborate or give reasons, but there have been - as yet unsubstantiated - claims that Russian Federation has been using Kaspersky software to spy on America. Such is the concern that Stewart said: "There is as far as I know no Kaspersky software on our networks".
The pushback came as the heads of the CIA, National Security Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency, Director of National Intelligence and acting head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation addressed the company on Capitol Hill.
Rogers told the panel that he was "personally involved" in the Kaspersky issue.
Cancer Society's Relay For Life - Blythewood High School - postponed until May 19
Relay For Life is a community event that brings everyone together to have fun in the fight against cancer. The remaining 5% is used by the American Cancer Society to fund their global cancer initiatives.
President Donald Trump did nothing to allay concerns about his own team's links to the Kremlin when he sacked FBI director James Comey this week as the latter sought to continue his investigation into these links.
Eugene Kaspersky, the namesake and CEO of the famed cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, spent Thursday refuting accusations that his Moscow-based cybersecurity company could be used to spy on key USA systems, as the idea continued to circulate in Washington.
Eugene Kaspersky answered questions on the internet forum Reddit about alleged ties between his company and the Russian government. If U.S. officials ban the company or remove its software from government computers, they could be putting themselves at greater risk from cyberattacks. Although the existence of the memorandum has been publicly reported, no evidence of wrongdoing by Kaspersky Lab employees or undue influence by the Russian government has been shared at this point.
In a statement issued after the Congressional hearing, Eugene Kaspersky said he respectfully disagrees with suggestions that his company's products pose a threat. The company has a 20-year history in the IT security industry of always abiding by the highest ethical business practices, and Kaspersky Lab believes it is completely unacceptable that the company is being unjustly accused without any hard evidence to back up these false allegations. Kaspersky Lab said that as a private company, it has no ties to any government, and it would never assist any regime with cyber-espionage.
"(To) some extent they give us something close to free advertising", Kaspersky added.
Comments