NEW DELHI, December 14. /TASS/. The allegations brought against Kaspersky Lab by the US authorities are false, the company’s CEO and co-founder Eugene Kaspersky told Russian reporters in New Delhi. According to him, the reason for the accusations is that Kaspersky Lab has been more successful on the market than other companies.
"In the beginning we were shocked," he said. "I was at a loss because I could not make out what was happening and why - it is like being attacked while walking in fog: you don’t understand where the attack comes from and what it is all about. We began to take actions to figure out if there was something in those allegations, we carried out an internal probe, a very serious one, but clearly, we found nothing. In fact, it is all a lie," Kaspersky pointed out.
"The culmination came when a member of the US Congress said at a hearing that our Moscow headquarters are located in the KGB building on Lubyanka Square. This is absurd, I don’t even know how to comment on it… After a time, when things started to settle down, we considered various options and now we have only one left - we will just do our work the way that nobody else does. It seems we got in someone’s way," added Kaspersky, who earlier delivered a lecture on cyber security at the Russian embassy in the Indian capital.
"We have been assessing the damage that we have faced in the United States. We have been working with our lawyers and international lawyers, mulling various options. I am not ready to comment on that yet, but we will not keep silent, though we are not ready to say what steps we are going to take," said Kaspersky, who earlier delivered a lecture on cyber security at the Russian embassy in the Indian capital.
Multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider Kaspersky Lab will not curtail its business in the United States, the company’s chief and co-founder, Yevgeny Kaspersky said.
"We have no plans for closing down our head office in the United States. We have offices in some other territories, too. We will reconfigure them a little bit, though," said Kaspersky.
He added that Kaspersky Lab had been evaluating the damage and would make an announcement while presenting a report wrapping up its activities in 2017.
In response to a question as to whether the number of customers was declining, he said: "No, there has been no huge drop. Nevertheless, many retailers have driven our products out. Clearly, we have lost out position there. But if we speak about online sales and small businesses, the damage has not been very serious," Kaspersky added.
US President Donald Trump recently signed the defense policy bill banning Kaspersky Lab’s software from government computers.
The US Department of Homeland Security earlier issued a Binding Operational Directive "directing Federal Executive Branch departments and agencies to take actions related to the use or presence of information security products, solutions, and services supplied directly or indirectly by AO Kaspersky Lab or related entities." The document "calls on departments and agencies to identify any use or presence of Kaspersky products on their information systems… develop detailed plans to remove and discontinue present and future use of the products."
US President Donald Trump recently signed the defense policy bill banning Kaspersky Lab’s software from government computers.