Kaspersky will relocate some of its infrastructure in Moscow to Switzerland and open a Swiss data centre to address concerns that its software is being used by the Kremlin to gather intelligence.

The Moscow-based anti-virus company announced it is moving its data storage and processing facilities for users in Europe, North America, Singapore, Australia, Japan and South Korea to Zurich towards the end of 2019.

The cyber security company is also opening a transparency centre to enable international regulators to review products and an independent third-party organisation will be established to also review its new processes. 

The move is a direct response to growing concerns from Western nations over mass hostile cyber activity being carried out by Kremlin-backed Russian hackers and that Kaspersky could be linked to them. 

Kaspersky has denied that Russian intelligence services have any access to its user’s data, but the company is concerned with the potential loss of trust posed by the allegations.

“The world is changing and changing really fast. The world in which we worked two or three years ago is different,” said Anton Shingarev, vice president of public affairs at Kaspersky Lab.

“The company needs to address that. The allegations we faced are wrong and there is no evidence. Still the allegations are there. We need to show customers we are taking them seriously and address them.”

At the end of 2017 the US government signed into law a government-wide ban on Kaspersky Lab software after months of suspicion the Russian-based cybersecurity company could spy on other countries through its products.

Twitter also banned Kaspersky from advertising on its platform based on US government’s allegations.

On Monday the Dutch government also moved to phase out Kaspersky anti-virus software for precautionary measures.

In a letter to parliament, Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus said the decision was made because the Russian Government had an “offensive cyber programme that targets among others the Netherlands and Dutch interests”.

Image credit: Shutterstock 

Kaspersky will relocate some of its infrastructure in Moscow to Switzerland and open a Swiss data centre to address concerns that its software is being used by the Kremlin to gather intelligence.

The Moscow-based anti-virus company announced it is moving its data storage and processing facilities for users in Europe, North America, Singapore, Australia, Japan and South Korea to Zurich towards the end of 2019.

The cyber security company is also opening a transparency centre to enable international regulators to review products and an independent third-party organisation will be established to also review its new processes. 

The move is a direct response to growing concerns from Western nations over mass hostile cyber activity being carried out by Kremlin-backed Russian hackers and that Kaspersky could be linked to them. 

Kaspersky has denied that Russian intelligence services have any access to its user’s data, but the company is concerned with the potential loss of trust posed by the allegations.

“The world is changing and changing really fast. The world in which we worked two or three years ago is different,” said Anton Shingarev, vice president of public affairs at Kaspersky Lab.

“The company needs to address that. The allegations we faced are wrong and there is no evidence. Still the allegations are there. We need to show customers we are taking them seriously and address them.”

At the end of 2017 the US government signed into law a government-wide ban on Kaspersky Lab software after months of suspicion the Russian-based cybersecurity company could spy on other countries through its products.

Twitter also banned Kaspersky from advertising on its platform based on US government’s allegations.

On Monday the Dutch government also moved to phase out Kaspersky anti-virus software for precautionary measures.

In a letter to parliament, Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus said the decision was made because the Russian Government had an “offensive cyber programme that targets among others the Netherlands and Dutch interests”.

Image credit: Shutterstock