Kaspersky Lab is refuting claims Russian intelligence used its antivirus software to spy on U.S. intelligence in its latest review of its telemetry logs, published on the company's website.
The internal review stemmed from reports of a 2015 incident that linked Kaspersky's antivirus software to foreign cyberespionage efforts, eventually lending to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issuing a governmentwide ban on its products.
The investigation found only one incident from 2014 in which malware source code files were detected on a user's computer after they had downloaded an illegal Microsoft Office application. That user was reportedly a contractor or employee with the National Security Agency who had snuck classified materials out of the agency and stored them on a home computer, which later became infected by a malicious backdoor that enabled third parties remote access, according to ars technica.
That worker's home computer ran a home version of Kaspersky's antivirus software. When he downloaded the pirated Microsoft programs, he first had to disable the software. It wasn't until the software was re-enabled that Kaspersky detected the malware.
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