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Kaspersky Lab has worked much more closely with Russian intelligence than it has disclosed

- Jordan

Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab boasts 400 million users worldwide. As many as 200 million may not know it. The huge reach of Kaspersky’s technology is partly the result of licensing agreements that allow customers to quietly embed the software in everything from firewalls to sensitive telecommunications equipment—none of which carry the Kaspersky name.

That success is starting to worry US national security officials concerned about the company’s links to the Russian government. In early May six US intelligence and law enforcement agency chiefs were asked in an open Senate hearing whether they’d let their networks use Kaspersky software, often found on Best Buy shelves. The answer was a unanimous and resounding no. The question, from Florida Republican Marco Rubio, came out of nowhere, often a sign a senator is trying to indirectly draw attention to something learned in classified briefings.

Eugene Kaspersky took to Reddit to respond. Claims about Kaspersky Lab’s ties to the Kremlin are “unfounded conspiracy theories” and “total BS,” the company’s boisterous, barrel-chested chief executive officer wrote. While the US government hasn’t disclosed any evidence of the ties, internal company emails obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek show that Kaspersky Lab has maintained a much closer working relationship with Russia’s main intelligence agency, the FSB, than it has publicly admitted. It has developed security technology at the spy agency’s behest and worked on joint projects the CEO knew would be embarrassing if made public.