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Former KGB Spy Founds Top IT Security Firm, Calls for Internet Supercops

By IBLS Editor

Some know the name Kaspersky from the topnotch computer security technology put out by Kaspersky Labs that includes probably the most highly-rated free anti-spy program available. But the man with the clearly Russian name behind the venture is even more interesting than the technology his firm produces because of his shadowy background. Blond-haired, blue-eyed and bearded Eugene Kaspersky may not have the menacing look one would expect of an ex-member of one of the world's most feared organizations. But perhaps that is because he has put his counter-intelligence kit away and has dedicated himself to keeping the world's computer systems free from evil viruses and pesky and dangerous spyware.

The 42-year old former top lieutenant of Moscow's espionage house got into the trade accidentally by collecting viruses as a hobby in the late 1980's. In an interview, Kaspersky sexplained how he got into his current profession -- "It was an accident. My computer was infected in 1989. At that time there were about 10 different antivirus programs and I used one of them to disinfect my computer. But I was very curious about viruses, so before disinfecting my computer, I put a copy on a floppy disk and when I got time I analyzed the code. I decided to write my own program to disinfect the file. In a week or two, a friend told me his computer had another virus. So I collected that virus. That was my hobby. Some people collect stamps or butterflies; I collected viruses."

Kasperky's own biography on his website says: "Born in Novorossiysk, Russia, Eugene graduated from the Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications and Computer Science and worked at a multi-disciplinary scientific research institute until 1991. He began studying computer viruses in 1989, when the Cascade virus was detected on his computer. From 1991 to 1997 Eugene worked at the KAMI Information Technologies Center where he developed the AVP antivirus project with a group of associates (AVP was renamed Kaspersky Anti-Virus in November 2000). Eugene Kaspersky became a co-founder of Kaspersky Lab in 1997."

Kaspersky co-founding Kaspersky Lab with his now ex-wife Natalya. The company currently employs 800 workers and has 250,000 customers worldwide, with sales estimated in 2007 of $200m (£100m), and promising it "could be $1bn in five years, maybe less," according to chief financial officer Eugene Buyakin. The current goal is to overtake McAfee and establish themselves as the globe's second biggest software security company.

Kapsersky has watched as malware evolved from being pranks created by kids into a serious security, economic and criminal danger, saying "In the past, there were kids writing viruses, and some of them were very clever. Most of the malicious code written today is for money. " Kaspersky has also said, "Now we live in a world of cybercriminals. The bad guys who develop malware for money - usually they are not ladies! Most infected code is distributed via malicious web pages, and to get people to go there, they use social engineering: spam, phishing emails, blogs, forums, Web 2.0 sites and other social communities."

As to why a continually updated security system is needed by computer users instead of a static virus scanner, Kapersky says, "Malicious code is developed by humans. If there is some solution that solves all the problems at the moment, hackers would develop a new method tomorrow. So there is no such thing as 100 percent protection."

The entire topic of malware is a rich one for public debate. Kaspersky likes to discuss the "grey zone", where companies debate if certain technology is legitimate or not. One company's marketing research is another entity's malware. But when asked who decides, Kaspersky shrugs. "Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose."

Kaspersky also hotly contests the idea that Russia is any kind of a hotbed of cyber-crime and also cautions others to not jump to hasty conclusions about where attacks come from, just because one language or another is found in their code. He said, ""Just because they use Russian characters, that doesn't mean they are Russian citizens ? they could be Russian-speaking persons in Europe or the United States." He added, "In many cases it is very difficult to trace the culprits. To investigate that, we have to get in touch with different authorities for different countries, and internet service providers from different countries. And if you get to, say, Panama, forget about it."

Kaspersky is currently trying to drum up support for a cybercrime equivalent to Interpol, with international police powers and resources to follow cyber-criminals across multiple jurisdictions. This is certainly a suggestion that will gain adherents as Web crime grows in terms of size and victims, and especially as governments become more targeted.

Full post as published by IBLS Internet Law Blog on February 05, 2008 (boomark / email).