The Kaspersky Lab has commented on the claims that the UK National Cyber Security Centre had encouraged companies or private users to ban the company’s products.
“Kaspersky Lab is engaged in a constructive dialogue with the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) with the aim of developing a mechanism allowing it to carry out an independent verification of the security of products and services of Kaspersky Lab,” the Russia-based global cybersecurity firm said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement was made in the wake of Friday’s Financial Times newspaper report, saying that the NCSC had warned UK government agencies to avoid using Kaspersky Lab anti-virus software, with the threat allegedly stemming from what the NCSC sees as Russia’s campaign of online espionage.
The cybersecurity company stressed that, according to the NCSC, the current ban is based solely “on the analysis of potential risks, and not the evidence of any violations by Kaspersky Lab,” underlining that the “the NCSC does not encourage companies and private users to discard the products of Kaspersky Lab.”
Kaspersky Under Pressure
The Kaspersky Lab has also come under increased pressure in the United States amid accusations concerning its alleged work for Russian intelligence, a claim denied by the company. Acting US Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke ordered all the country’s federal departments and agencies to stop using Kaspersky Lab products within the next 90 days, saying the company’s products allegedly represented a threat to security.
Kaspersky Lab CEO Eugene Kaspersky has repeatedly refuted all the allegations spread by the media regarding the Russian cybersecurity company’s involvement in spying through its products. In fact, the WikiLeaks organization later discovered that the CIA had written a code to “impersonate” Russia-based Kaspersky Lab, which had been used at least three times.