Israeli hackers who managed to breach systems belonging to Kaspersky discovered hacking tools that had been stolen from the NSA, according to reports in the New York Times and Washington Post.
Israeli officials immediately warned U.S. intelligence agencies about a possible breach of their network, suggesting possible collaboration between Kaspersky and the Russian government.
U.S. NSA officials in turn informed all NATO allies that Kaspersky's database and source code may be known to Russian intelligence, allowing Russian hackers to launch attacks on NATO member states and Europe in general.
However, Kaspersky continues to state that it does not cooperate with Russia or any other government, adding that it is not aware of any breaches by Israeli hackers.
"Kaspersky Lab has never assisted, nor will it assist, any government in the world in its cyberespionage efforts," the Russian company said.
“As a private company, Kaspersky Lab has no inappropriate ties to any government, including Russia, and the only conclusion seems to be that Kaspersky Lab finds itself in the middle of a geopolitical conflict.”
The United States government has banned Kaspersky software from computers used in its services, and according to people close to the matter, the FBI has informed public and private companies about the security risks posed by the software developed by the Russian company.
Some retailers, including Best Buy, have already stopped selling Kaspersky software.
According to the New York Times and Washington Post, the investigation launched by the US government revealed that Russian hackers managed to steal classified documents from the NSA using Kaspersky software, as well as files stored on the home computers of at least one employee. Kaspersky security products also worked on that home system.
After the publication of this article, none of the parties involved (NSA, White House, and Israeli Embassy) commented on the publications.
We should note that since so many secret services are involved in this story, it is very difficult to say with certainty which side is right, or continues to play a game until the final downfall of the opponent.
Security, in short, does not exist on the internet. The story comes to remind us what is being played beneath the table, even with companies that we consider reliable.
Who guarantees you that Google, Microsoft, Apple, and many others are not collaborating with secret services?
But now it's Kaspersky's time...
