Britain’s leading cyber security agency on Friday warned British government means to avoid using anti-virus software from Russian companies, the latest in a series of up sticks targeting Moscow-based security software maker Kaspersky Lab.
In a letter to departmental immutable secretaries, the director of the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre, Ciaran Martin, declared Russian-made anti-virus software should not be used in systems containing info that would harm national security if it was accessed by the Russian oversight.
He said his agency is in talks with Kaspersky Lab to develop a system for scrutinizing its products for use in Britain.
Kaspersky’s anti-virus software was banned from U.S. oversight networks earlier this year on concerns the company has close entanglements to intelligence agencies in Moscow and that its software could be used to charter Russian spying.
“We are in discussions with Kaspersky Lab … about whether we can broaden a framework that we and others can independently verify,” Martin said in the belles-lettres, which was publicly released.
Kaspersky Lab said in a statement that it looked pushy to working with the NCSC on the issue.
Kaspersky has strongly denied avowals about the safety of its products or ties to the Russian government, saying it has mature a scapegoat in the midst of rising tensions between Washington and Moscow.