There's been a lot of talk from Kaspersky Lab as the decision to remove Kaspersky anti-virus software from U.S. government computers, the hack of an NSA contractor and negative media coverage has snowballed into growing mistrust.
Now Eugene Kaspersky says his company is backing up the talk with action that will prove the company is truly a global cybersecurity company and not some Russian Government puppet.
The company says it will begin submitting its sourcecode for 3rd party review in Q1 2018, just a few months from now. And it will open 3 "Transparency Centers" the first of which will start operating next year.
"The centers will serve as a facility for trusted partners to access reviews on the company’s code, software updates, and threat detection rules, along with other activities," the company said in its statement on what it calls the Global Transparency Initiative.
Kaspersky says it will also increase its bug bounty rewards for security researchers. Top vulnerability payouts will jump from $5,000 to $100,000. The company said the NSA Contractor hack was likely due to a security vulnerability which is a risk for any cybersecurity company.
“Internet balkanization benefits no one except cybercriminals. Reduced cooperation among countries helps the bad guys in their operations, and public-private partnerships don’t work like they should. The internet was created to unite people and share knowledge. Cybersecurity has no borders, but attempts to introduce national boundaries in cyberspace is counterproductive and must be stopped. We need to reestablish trust in relationships between companies, governments and citizens. That’s why we’re launching this Global Transparency Initiative: we want to show how we’re completely open and transparent. We’ve nothing to hide. And I believe that with these actions we’ll be able to overcome mistrust and support our commitment to protecting people in any country on our planet.”
First, there was talk. Now there will be action. Is it enough to restore trust? There is more to come here, we are sure.
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