Moscow, Russia-based Kaspersky Lab plans to ask third party reviewers to assess its anti-virus software, which has come under U.S. government scrutiny over concerns the company has ties to the Kremlin.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration moved to ban products manufactured by Kaspersky Labs from use in both the executive branch and parts of Congress amid allegations the company had ties to the Russian government.
Other countries have since joined in — Israeli intelligence claimed to have caught Russian hackers exploiting Kaspersky antivirus software into a sort of Google search engine for American intelligence programs. However, following those claims, Germany's Federal Office for Information Security said it had no evidence that Russian hackers used Kaspersky Lab software to spy on U.S. officials.
Amid the allegations, the company launched a Global Transparency Initiative in hopes to reestablish trust between customers, citizens and governments. The initial phase of the initiative will include the "start of an independent review of the company's source code by [quarter one] 2018, with similar reviews of the company's software updates and threat detection rules to follow," reads a statement on the company's website.
"Cybersecurity has no borders, but attempts to introduce national boundaries in cyberspace is counterproductive and must be stopped," said Eugene Kaspersky, chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab. "We want to show how we're completely open and transparent. We've nothing to hide. And I believe that with these actions we'll be able to overcome mistrust and support our commitment to protecting people in any country on our planet."
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