Make svidaniya, Kaspersky – goodbye
Companies and governments, we say, interesting relationship. Just ask no Chinese technology company in the past few days. But while they are losing billions, companies in warring countries like Russia are facing even more difficult confrontations. How can Russian companies support Russia ‘s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine?
You can say that they cannot, but that just shows that you have not studied history. When money and ethics are weighed against each other, money usually wins. For example, American-like-apple-pie-and-baseball companies General Motors, Ford, Cóca Cólaand IBM supported Nazi Germany during World War II.
Seriously. Look it up.
So there is nothing too surprising when we see a Moscow-based security leader Kaspersky founder Eugene Kaspersky seeks to make his way around the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Twitter: “We welcome the start of negotiations to resolve the current situation in Ukraine and I hope that war and compromise will end there. “
“Current situation ??” It is an invasion. As I write this, the latest Russian atrocity is the Mariupol theater bombing used as civilian refuge. There is no moral defense to support the current Russian regime.
And, compromise? There is no compromise here. This is an attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to turn back the clock and reshape Ukraine as part of a Soviet-controlled Soviet empire.
Of course, it takes courage to stand with Putin. Recently, when he realized that his invasion was failing, he threatened clean Russia of “scum and traitors.“But, while that’s certainly a reason to keep your head down and shut your mouth if you live inside Russia, it did not stop real settlers as Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova interrupted Russia’s national Channel One news broadcast to tell the people that his government was lying to them about the war.
Still, many Russian firms, including Kaspersky, are trying to keep their business running as usual. Alas, war is not business as usual.
German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has just warned everyone that they should stop using Kaspersky’s virus programs and users recommend “replacing them with alternative products.” Why? Because the obvious: You can’t trust them.
I mean, in fact, they are “security” programs from a NATO enemy.
Kaspersky himself is a graduate of an elite KGB school of cryptography and was a former Soviet military intelligence software engineer. There is nothing secret about his past. It has been known for years. But, until recently, we in the West could have pretended that the Russian elite was just like us. That delusion went up in flames along with the suburbs of Kharkiv and Kyiv.
Even if Kaspersky, who did not condemn the invasion, do not want to make an honest ruble, the simple fact is that anti – virus software, as the BSI suggests, must “maintain a permanent, encrypted, and unverifiable connection. up to the manufacturer’s servers “for updates. This same connection is a great way into the heart of PCs and servers.
Or, as the BSI puts it: “A Russian IT manufacturer can carry out abusive operations himself, force him to attack target systems against his will, or spy on him as a victim of cyber operation without his knowledge or as attack tool. against their own customers. “So even if Kaspersky – the person and the company – are as innocent as they can be, their technology could easily be adopted and used to abuse users. Western.
Kaspersky, meanwhile, argues that this is all nonsense and that you should continue to use its products. He argues that there is no “objective evidence” that Kaspersky shows as well. Be that as it may, there is plenty of objective evidence that the government under which Kaspersky operates is doing evil.
We also know that Kaspersky Internet-connected software in Berlin, London or New York is only thousands of seconds from its servers in Russia. There is no responsible way to continue running Kaspersky software.
It’s not just Kaspersky. This is true for any Russian-based software or service you may be using. The bottom line is that it’s time to cut links with potentially hostile companies.
They are not Russians; it is not even the Russian companies; it is Putin ‘s increasingly hostile government that makes it vital to free yourself from Russia’s cyber-linkage.
Copyright © 2022 IDG Communications, Inc.
Make svidaniya, Kaspersky – goodbye
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