Media: Russia was looking for software vulnerability for the US government

Large technological companies SAP, Symantec and McAfee allowed the Russian authorities to study the vulnerabilities of programs that are widely used by state structures of the United States. This was reported by Reuters. According to journalists, this may threaten the safety of dozens of federal agencies in the United States, including the Pentagon, NASA, the State Department and the FBI.

We are talking about checking the source code of antiviruses before their purchase by the Russian military. This is a prerequisite for the acquisition of programs by state contractors from Russia. The companies told reporters that the study of code is under the control of developers and the opportunity to change, copy or delete it.

The press service of SAP specified that some of its customers "from the public sector are checked by the safety of products for vulnerabilities in the software." For this, a "government security program" is used, which guarantees the safety of the source code. It is checked in the so -called "clean rooms", where any recording devices are prohibited.

At the same time, Reuters at the disposal of the Pentagon’s response to a request from one of the American senators about such practice. The letter says that it can help Russia and China in the detection of vulnerabilities in programs. Journalists found no examples when acquaintance with the source code led to cyber attacks.

In the United States, an investigation of the possible intervention of Russia in the presidential election in 2016 continues. According to special services, hackers associated with Moscow are behind the hacking of the servers of the Democratic Party. The Kremlin denies accusations of interfering with the domestic policy of other countries. Due to suspicions of relations with Russian intelligence, state-owned institutions in the United States banned the use of Kaspersky Laboratory programs. The Russian company claims that they do not cooperate with the special services.