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Guilty of being Russian? Kaspersky employees questioned by FBI as possible ban looms
Employees of security company Kaspersky Lab have been questioned by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the company’s links to the Russian government as members of Congress called on the company to be banned from military work within the United States.
The questioning, which is said to have occurred Tuesday, saw FBI agents visiting the homes of U.S.-based employees after business hours to ask questions although no search warrants were served, according to two sources who spoke to Reuters. Kaspersky subsequently confirmed the story, saying in a statement that FBI agents have had “brief interactions” with some of its U.S. employees and described the interactions as “due diligence” chats.
Founded in 1997 by Eugene Kaspersky, the company ranks highly in terms of security market presence, coming in at 28 on Cybersecurity Venture’s Top 50 security companies to watch and sixth in revenue among security-software makers, according to Bloomberg. Kaspersky has offices in 30 countries, 3,000 employees, 400 million users and reported $667 million in sales in 2013.
At a time where special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating links between the Trump Administration and Russia, Kaspersky, as a large cybersecurity software maker, has come to attention not because of any alleged links to the administration but apparently because it’s a Russian company.
“As a private company, Kaspersky Lab has no ties to any government, and the company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts,” a company spokesman said in a statement reported by The Register. “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 is available to assist all concerned government organizations with any ongoing investigations, and the company ardently believes a deeper examination of Kaspersky Lab will confirm that these allegations are unfounded.”
Photo: Kaspersky/Wikimedia Commons
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