Eugene Kaspersky has poured cold water on reports that the cybersecurity company is closely affiliated with the Russian government.
“These reports are bullshit,” he bluntly told delegates to the Kaspersky Middle East, Turkey and Africa Cybersecurity Weekend taking place in Jordan.
“We have the same distance from the Russian government as any government in the rest of the world,” Kaspersky adds. “We do advise governments: they are our customers. But we behave as an independent cybersecurity company.
“We try to stay as far away from politics as possible.”
He adds that rumours that were circulating in 2017 were disproved. “There was no proof at all, because it was not true.”
On the topic of shutting off virtual private networks in some territories, he points out that the company follows the regulations of the countries it operates in.
“We are working in a 100% legal way,” he says. “When a government changes their regulations we must change as well.”