Kaspersky has denied ties with the Russian government and claimed that the bans are the result of U.S-Russia tensions. 3 And the U.S argues that Kaspersky hacked into an NSA contractor’s laptop through its software back in 2015. 2 Twitter has banned Kaspersky Lab from advertising on the site, and Best Buy even stopped selling the company’s products. 1 In 2017, the U.S Department of Homeland Security banned the use of Kaspersky software by any federal agency, and Britain followed suit shortly after. Rumors about Kaspersky started spreading back in 2012 when Bloomberg pointed out a pattern of new hires with connections to the Russian military establishment. But, in recent years, we’ve seen disturbing allegations of ties between the company and the Russian government. They’ve even identified hacking plots run by governments. Some background information: the company itself, founded in Russia in 1997, is a global leader in identifying emerging Internet security threats and malware. We think it’s important to note upfront that Kaspersky Lab’s reputation is not squeaky clean. First things first-let’s address the elephant in the room.
