How close is Russian cyber firm to Russia’s spies?

[OmniConsUme]

[QUOTE]WASHINGTON
U.S. intelligence agencies have turned up the heat in recent days on Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based cybersecurity giant long suspected of ties to Russia’s spying apparatus.

Now, official Kremlin documents reviewed by McClatchy could further inflame the debate about whether the company’s relationship with Russian intelligence is more than rumor.

The documents are certifications issued to the company by the Russian Security Service, the spy agency known as the FSB.

Unlike the stamped approvals the FSB routinely issues to companies seeking to operate in Russia, Kaspersky’s include an unusual feature: a military intelligence unit number matching that of an FSB program.

“That strikes me as much more persuasive public evidence,” said Paul Rosenzweig, a former deputy secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security. “It makes it far more likely that much of the rumor and uncertainty about Kaspersky are true.”[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article159342694.html"]http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article159342694.html[/URL]

[Perogi Palooka]

Ah shit, I've been using Kaspersky TTDS Killer for years.

Any good alternative?

[Gook Nukem]

[QUOTE=richard9311;52436138]Ah shit, I've been using Kaspersky TTDS Killer for years.

Any good alternative?[/QUOTE]

windows defender

[editline]10:8[/editline]

with russian language pack enabled

[Durrsly]

[QUOTE=richard9311;52436138]Ah shit, I've been using Kaspersky TTDS Killer for years.

Any good alternative?[/QUOTE]

Malwarebytes has anti-rootkit these days

[Merv]

[QUOTE=richard9311;52436138]Ah shit, I've been using Kaspersky TTDS Killer for years.

Any good alternative?[/QUOTE]

TDSS Killer isn't a general use anti-malware program. It's a rootkit removal tool. You won't need to stop using it.

[elix]

[QUOTE=ZombieWaffle;52438722]TDSS Killer isn't a general use anti-malware program. It's a rootkit removal tool. You won't need to stop using it.[/QUOTE]
That is assuming that TDSS Killer isn't doing anything hoiky under the covers like embedding its own undetected rootkit hooks that, curiously, it won't find. And then there's the game of varying payloads by sending 'tainted' but valid downloads to specific people while offering the clean binary in general.

And before anyone thinks this is far-fetched, IIRC the NSA/FBI forced people from non-FiveEyes nations to download a tainted version of tor if they went to download it during a particular period, and the modified version of tor exposed its origin for the purpose of helping law enforcement catch pedos who were using tor. If Kaspersky is at least partially cooperating with the FSB, it'd be believable that they'd have the level of router/webserver control to selectively offer malware-tainted downloads to selected target IPs/IP rangeblocks.

It should be said that I don't have any evidence that TDSS Killer is doing anything beyond what it claims to do. However, the FSB having a credible connection to Kaspersky raises all sorts of uncomfortable doubts and suspicions.

[TheCreeper]

Oh noes, more Russian scaremongering. You know what, it's a fair statement to make that some US tech companies have ties to the US intelligence services which is evident from the leaks over the past few years.

[catbarf]

[QUOTE=TheCreeper;52439416]You know what, it's a fair statement to make that some US tech companies have ties to the US intelligence services which is evident from the leaks over the past few years. [/QUOTE]

Are you forgetting that people took those seriously?

Somehow I doubt if the story were that NSA fingerprints were found on US security software you'd be saying 'oh noes, more NSA scaremongering' and casually dismissing it.

[Gook Nukem]

It makes complete sense for the intelligence services in any given nation to have backdoor access and process whitelisting abilities for major antivirus (or, really, any computer software) companies in their country

why wouldn't an intelligence agency want a way to install their malicious spyware on everyone's computers quickly and silently

[MrBacon]

[QUOTE=TheCreeper;52439416]Oh noes, more Russian scaremongering. You know what, it's a fair statement to make that some US tech companies have ties to the US intelligence services which is evident from the leaks over the past few years.[/QUOTE]

I'd rather not have russia in my shit

[DoktorAkcel]

Kaspersky is bull crap anyways. DrWeb Rootkit Removal tools are way better