Antivirus attack

The National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC) at the Great Britain government center sent a warning about risks associated with the use of Kaspersky antivirus to all government institutions. It is reported by the BBC.

NCSC head Kiren Martin in his circular forbade departments to use Russian software in any systems containing confidential data. At the same time, NCSC did not demand to abandon the “antivirus of Kaspersky” users whose work is not related to secret information.

The report notes that the NCSC supports the dialogue with the Kaspersky Laboratory.

Antivirus programs "Kaspersky laboratories" gain access to computer files to scan harmful code. This can be used by the Russian authorities for espionage. At the same time, NCSC does not report such specific cases. We are talking about "increased risks" for national security, said NCSC Technical Director Jan Levy.

On November 15, Martin stated that over the past year, Russia constantly took hacker attacks on the British media, telecommunications and energy sectors. "I will not disclose the details of intelligence materials, but I can confirm that the intervention of Russia, which the National Cybersecurity Center cut down, included attacks on British media, communication and energy block," Martin said.

Moscow "is trying to undermine the international system," and its activity serves as an "reason for concern," the head of the NCSC emphasized. According to him, the department "actively interacts" with international partners, business representatives and civil society to counteract this threat.

Information about the connection of the Kaspersky Laboratory with the Russian special services has recently been repeatedly appeared in the press. On June 29, it became known that the US Senate Committee approved a bill prohibiting the use of Kaspersky programs in the American army. The author of the bill - the Senator -Democrat from New Hampshire Gene Shahin - noted that the Kaspersky Laboratory may be influenced by the Russian authorities. "

On July 12, the US presidential administration excluded the Kaspersky laboratory from the list of suppliers, whose products were approved for use by government agencies. As noted, such a decision is designed to "ensure the integrity and security of government systems and networks of the United States." The restrictions, however, were applied only to purchases made through the administration of the general services of the White House.

Meanwhile, September 13, acting The US Minister of Internal Security, Elaine Duke, ordered the federal executive structures of the executive branch within 90 days to completely abandon the products of the Kaspersky Laboratory and its subsidiaries. As noted, Kaspersky programs receive deep access to files on computers, and this can be used by attackers to compromise information systems. It was noted that "the Ministry is concerned between individual managers of the" Kaspersky Laboratory "and intelligence or other government structures of Russia, as well as Russian law, which allows intelligence to request or demand from Kaspersky aid in the interception of data passing through Russian networks."

On October 12, The Wall Street Journal wrote that the function of searching for secret documents of the US administration was built into the Antivirus of Kaspersky. It was stated that the tests conducted by American experts showed that the antivirus led on computers where it was installed, the search for the phrase by the phrase "Top Secret" (English is completely secret) and the code names of secret American programs.

The general director of the company Evgeny Kaspersky, who graduated from the Higher School of the KGB in 1987, invariably rejected such accusations. The Kaspersky laboratory denied all kinds of political ties , as well as affiliation with any governments.

However, on October 25, Kaspersky admitted that in 2014 the company's antivirus sent secret data to the developers from an ASA employee. Antivirus allegedly found malicious code in files. It became clear from the file headlines that they were secret. Kaspersky claims that he immediately ordered his employees to delete files.