Israeli spy services were reportedly behind the United States government’s recent decision to purge Kaspersky Lab antivirus software from its computers, citing possible collusion with Russian intelligence. Last month, the US Department of Homeland Security issued a directive ordering that all government computers should be free of software products designed by Kaspersky Lab. Formed in the late 1990s by Russian cybersecurity expert Eugene Kaspersky, the multinational antivirus software provider operates out of Moscow but is technically based in the United Kingdom. Its antivirus and cybersecurity products are installed on tens of millions of computers around the world, including computers belonging to government agencies in the US and elsewhere. But last month’s memorandum by the US government’s domestic security arm alarmed the cybersecurity community by alleging direct operational links between the antivirus company and the Kremlin.
On Tuesday, The New York Times
reported that the initial piece of intelligence that alerted the US
government to the alleged links between Kaspersky Lab and Moscow was
provided by Israel. The American paper said
that Israeli cyber spies managed to hack into Kaspersky’s systems and
confirm the heavy presence of Russian government operatives there. The Times’
report stated that the Israelis documented real-time cyber espionage
operations by the Russians, which targeted the government computer
systems of foreign governments, including the United States’. The
Israeli spies then reportedly approached their American counterparts and
told them that Kaspersky Lab software was being used by Russian
intelligence services as a backdoor to millions of computers worldwide.
The Israelis also concluded that Kaspersky’s antivirus software was used
to illegally steal files from these computers, which were essentially
infected by spy software operated by the Russian government.
It was following the tip by the Israelis
that he Department of Homeland Security issued its memorandum saying
that it was “concerned about the ties between certain Kaspersky [Lab]
officials and Russian intelligence and other government agencies”. The
memorandum resulted in a decision by the US government —overwhelmingly
supported by Congress— to scrap all Kaspersky software from its computer
systems. Kaspersky Lab has rejected allegations that it works with
Russian intelligence. In a statement
issued in May of this year, the company said it had “never helped, nor
will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts”.
Author: Joseph Fitsanakis
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