Kaspersky Uploaded US Documents, But Deleted Them Quickly

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rgMekanic

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In the latest round of Kaspersky drama, the AP is reporting that Kaspersky's anti-virus software had automatically scraped powerful digital surveillance tools off an NSA server. Kaspersky is stating that the filles were immediately deleted, "If we see confidential or classified information, it will be immediately deleted and that was exactly (what happened in) this case," he said, adding that the order had since been written into company policy.

The article goes into more detail on what happened. Eugene Kaspersky said in an interview that Analysts at his company were already on the trail of the Equation Group - a powerful group of hackers later exposed as an arm of the NSA - when a computer in the United States was flagged for further investigation. The machine's owner, identified in media reports as an NSA worker, had run anti-virus scans on their home computer after it was infected by a pirated copy of Microsoft Office, according to a Kaspersky timeline released Wednesday.

The rabbit hole of the Kaspersky stuff just keeps getting deeper. From the US Government moving to ban the software in federal agencies and stores pulling it off the shelves, I really don't think we've heard the end of this any time soon.
 
I use Kaspersky on my system. At present it does its thing way better than most I have used. I doubt I will be removing it any time soon.

I doubt the Russian goobernment will care about my porn collection... Theirs is way better :)
 
he forgot to mention that the recycling bin was located on an offsite server... ;)
 
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cyberguyz said:
I use Kaspersky on my system. At present it does its thing way better than most I have used. I doubt I will be removing it any time soon.

I doubt the Russian goobernment will care about my porn collection... Theirs is way better :)
Click to expand...

I tried it but it was a little too aggressive for my tastes. Went with ESET instead, which seems to have a very high catch rate, nice interface and doesn't cause any noticeable system impact. Good alternative to look at, should you decide you want one.
 
Sycraft said:
I tried it but it was a little too aggressive for my tastes. Went with ESET instead, which seems to have a very high catch rate, nice interface and doesn't cause any noticeable system impact. Good alternative to look at, should you decide you want one.
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Bitdefender is the next highest rated software
 
I dumped the AV software from both my machines, desktop and laptop. Switched to BitDefender.
 
Here's the deal. Is Kaspersky based in Russia? Yes. Boom, end of story, cut them off. Of course that a Pandora's box of shit for everyone but frankly we gotta start talking about foreign procurement of services and hardware, etc, etc.

And maybe start talking about a UN Treaty on Cyber Weapons before a first strike happens on our power infrastructure or some other shitty shit.
 
SighTurtle said:
Here's the deal. Is Kaspersky based in Russia? Yes. Boom, end of story, cut them off. Of course that a Pandora's box of shit for everyone but frankly we gotta start talking about foreign procurement of services and hardware, etc, etc.

And maybe start talking about a UN Treaty on Cyber Weapons before a first strike happens on our power infrastructure or some other shitty shit.
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The xenophobia is strong in this one.
 
cyberguyz said:
I use Kaspersky on my system. At present it does its thing way better than most I have used. I doubt I will be removing it any time soon.

I doubt the Russian goobernment will care about my porn collection... Theirs is way better :)
Click to expand...

What exactly does it do better then windows defender at this point? I'm honestly curious why anyone bothers introducing further vulnerability to their system when defender at this point is already proven to be just as effective. At this point any 3rd party virus scan on Windows is doing nothing but adding attack surface to your box.
 
haste. said:
The xenophobia is strong in this one.
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Not at all. The NSA leaks, Stuxnet attacks against the Iranian nuclear program, etc, make it clear, if governments dont take steps to secure vital data and infrastructure, these weak spots become areas for other actors to step in and project themselves. The nature of these attacks make it hard to track and easier to mislead, yet the potential for damage will only increase with the connectivity of our world.

Now, are you referring to me being okay with kicking out Kaspersky simply for being Russian? First off, let me acknowledge that if other countries wanna kick out American companies in favor of their own homebrew tech, they can go right ahead, I'm not gonna deny their legitimate security concerns. (I do wish we could come to a world where cyber would be off limits or purely defensive or some other kinda arrangement where tech companies dont feel under siege by governments, including their own home countries) Second, Im not ready to start favoring the Russian Government over my own Government in any matter concerning national security without some good reason.
 
viper1152012 said:
Nsa using pirated office is what caught my attention....theives catching theives?
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Just to clarify, it's NSA contractor using pirated software on his home computer. The problem started when this contractor brought his NSA work to home, which I believe is illegal.
 
Mchart said:
What exactly does it do better then windows defender at this point? I'm honestly curious why anyone bothers introducing further vulnerability to their system when defender at this point is already proven to be just as effective. At this point any 3rd party virus scan on Windows is doing nothing but adding attack surface to your box.
Click to expand...

Higher catch rate. Defender trades off catch rate to have basically zero false positives. Good choice for an included piece of software but some people want better catch rates which 3rd parties give. Also many of the 3rd party AV products aren't just AV anymore, they are also HIPS/NIPS products that can stop things based on behavioral analysis, not just signatures.

Defender is fine, and I don't go around telling people they need to buy something, but it is basic and not as high security as some of the others. It is all in what you want.
 
SighTurtle said:
Here's the deal. Is Kaspersky based in Russia? Yes. Boom, end of story, cut them off. Of course that a Pandora's box of shit for everyone but frankly we gotta start talking about foreign procurement of services and hardware, etc, etc.

And maybe start talking about a UN Treaty on Cyber Weapons before a first strike happens on our power infrastructure or some other shitty shit.
Click to expand...

Uh, well, Putin did suggest forming an international anti cyber-warfare organization. The US wasn't interested, though. Guess that might have interfered too much with the US hacking everybody.

Also, should all other countries cut off all US software? The US has a much worse reputation for cyber-espionage than Russia, or than any other country. The US hacks its allies and foes alike, has created the worst-known malware than has plagued the world, has been shown through leaked NSA and CIA documents that it poses as Russia, China, or others when it hacks, and that it has been attacking businesses and state computers for over 1.5 decades through Equation Group.

If you're in the US, or probably elsewhere, you're far more at risk of being backdoored, hacked, and intel taken by US agencies than by Russia or anyone else.

And you think US anti-virus software isn't occupied by US intel agencies? They're everywhere. Thousands of US software companies willingly build backdoors into their software for the US government is exchange for payment from the US government.

Also, I wonder how many routers in the US (and beyond) the CIA hasn't hacked?
 
Delicieuxz said:
Uh, well, Putin did suggest forming an international anti cyber-warfare organization. The US wasn't interested, though. Guess that might have interfered too much with the US hacking everybody.

Also, should all other countries cut off all US software? The US has a much worse reputation for cyber-espionage than Russia, or than any other country. The US hacks its allies and foes alike, has created the worst-known malware than has plagued the world, has been shown through leaked NSA and CIA documents that it poses as Russia, China, or others when it hacks, and that it has been attacking businesses and state computers for over 1.5 decades through Equation Group.

If you're in the US, or probably elsewhere, you're far more at risk of being backdoored, hacked, and intel taken by US agencies than by Russia or anyone else.

And you think US anti-virus software isn't occupied by US intel agencies? They're everywhere. Thousands of US software companies willingly build backdoors into their software for the US government is exchange for payment from the US government.

Also, I wonder how many routers in the US (and beyond) the CIA hasn't hacked?
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You make good points tbh. But at the end of the day, I'm a nationalist, and I refuse to support dictatorships and regimes with unfavorable stances towards the U.S. Is some of the things you pointed out troubling? Yes, in a way. With that said, I'm sure other countries are performing their own questionable activities in the name of national security.
 
We hunt moose and squirrel da?

But seriously, if the statements in this story are true what worries me the most is the amount of negligence on the NSA's part.

It's like they funded a cage full of monkeys to make cyber-bombs and haven't noticed all the things now exploding.
 
If Kaspersky is catching the NSA isn’t that a good thing? I keed I keed.
 
For all anyone knows, Kaspersky IS the Russian FSB.

Further, the level of access, esp Enterprise access in US Govt and major Corps, means that your Motherboard BIOS, Hard drive firmware, video card firmware, could all be compromised by the Russian Govt.

Every computer on Earth exposed to Kaspersky SW is now potentially compromised by Russian military/intelligence ... they could have installed a kill switch in many of the PC's and servers in the whole. Think about the ramifications. Makes for some nasty SciFi level potentials.

How do we even safely reinstall shit like hard disk firmware, or motherboard bios firmware in hundreds of millions of machines .... or do we just wing it, and assume we are safe?

What if the Russians can turn off a majority of computers/communications just before a military attack? A nuclear attack leaving the US blind and unable to retaliate?
 
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