Son of Kaspersky Lab's CEO 'kidnapped'

Held for €3m ransom, says unconfirmed report

The 20-year-old son of Kaspersky Lab's CEO has reportedly gone missing, with kidnappers said to be demanding €3m for his release. According to Lifenews.ru (via Google Translate), Ivan Kaspersky – the son of Eugene Kaspersky with his ex-wife Natalya Kaspersky – disappeared two days ago. Since then the police, Russian secret service and the Criminal Investigation Department have all been searching for him. It has been reported that his father, who had been attending the InfoSec event in London, flew to Moscow where Ivan is understood to have been abducted while on his way to work. However, Kaspersky Lab hasn't confirmed the news report, which was picked up by the BBC today. Eugene Kaspersky, who founded the anti-virus software company, is considered to be one of the wealthiest men in Russia and was recently ranked just outside the Forbes' 100 rich-list in that country. His personal fortune is said to be around €800m. Kaspersky's ex-wife Natalya is chairwoman of the firm. ®

www.theregister.co.uk...

reply to post by xavi1000


That sucks. Kaspersky dishes out great utility programs.

Lets hope the family is returned safely and the culprits are caught, tarred and feathered... errr, shot.

One more source.

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Agence France Presse - Software tycoon's son kidnapped in Moscow: reports


news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110421/wl_afp/russiatechnologycrime_20110421174246

MOSCOW (AFP) – The son of Russian software tycoon Eugene Kaspersky has been kidnapped in Moscow and his abductors are demanding a 3 million euro ($4.4 million) ransom for his release, reports said on Thursday.

The Lifenews.ru news website said that unknown men abducted Ivan Kaspersky, 20, on Tuesday morning and then made the ransom demand to his father by phone.

His father, who founded the leading anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab, then flew from London to Moscow, it said.

The Gazeta.ru website said its sources in the security forces had confirmed Ivan Kaspersky had been kidnapped, without giving further details.

The Interfax news agency, meanwhile, quoted a source as saying Ivan Kaspersky disappeared on Tuesday and has been the subject of a search by the special services and the police ever since.

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Kaspersky Lab calls on media to stop kidnap speculation
MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti)
09:38 22/04/2011


en.rian.ru/russia/20110422/163642510.html

The global anti-virus software firm of Russian computer entrepreneur Yevgeny Kaspersky asked on Friday that Russian media "stop speculation" about his son, who has reportedly gone missing in Moscow.

"Kaspersky Lab calls on the media to stop spreading rumors and speculation about the events related to the family members of Yevgeny Kaspersky," the firm said in a statement. "Yevgeny Kaspersky is working normally, but he commented that the information being circulated is harmful for the company."

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Deutsche Presse-Agentur - Report: Russian mogul pays 4.4-million-dollar ransom for son

Apr 22, 2011, 9:25 GMT


www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1634612.php

Moscow - Russian millionaire software developer Eugene Kaspersky has paid a ransom equivalent to 4.4 million dollars to free his son after a kidnapping, the internet portal lifenews.ru reported Friday citing secret service sources.

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Agence France Presse - Russia seeks 'kidnapped' son of software tycoon

On Friday 22 April 2011, 17:29 SGT


sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/Russia-seeks-kidnapped-son-afpsg-2745148334.html

Russian authorities urgently searched Friday for the missing son of software tycoon Eugene Kaspersky, reportedly kidnapped on a ransom demand of three million euros ($4.4 million).

The interior ministry did not officially announce that Ivan Kaspersky, 20, had been abducted in what would be one of the highest-profile kidnappings in Russia in recent years.

However the lifenews.ru tabloid website, which first reported the young man was taken, said it had received information he had already been released in exchange for a ransom payment.

"Money has been paid for Ivan. I do not know the sum. But there is information that they have given him back," a source close to the investigation told the website.

The information was not carried by other media and the interior ministry did not offer any comment.

(...)

I've heard that he was kidnapped, but has been released after a ransom was paid.

reply to post by Hellmutt



Agence France Presse - Russia frees software tycoon's kidnapped son
AFP
Sun, Apr 24, 2011



www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20110424-275386.html

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russian police on Sunday freed the son of software tycoon Eugene Kaspersky after a five-day kidnap ordeal, ending one of the highest-profile abduction dramas in the country in recent years.

Police officers, agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the special OMON police squad freed Ivan Kaspersky, 20, in the Moscow region, Moscow police spokesman Viktor Birukov told Russian news agencies.

Reports said that officers posing as middlemen who were to handover a ransom lured the kidnappers into a meeting and then arrested them before they were supposed to hand over the funds.

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Kaspersky studied computer science, cryptography and mathematics at a Moscow institute used by the KGB intelligence service to train its staff.

He later worked at a defence ministry research institute until 1991, where he first began writing anti-virus programmes.

Kaspersky co-founded the company with his wife Natalya Kasperskaya. The couple are divorced.

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April 24, 2011 17:48

Kaspersky Lab confirms chief's son freed without ransom


www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=239007

MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) - On Sunday the Kaspersky Laboratory told Interfax on Sunday that the company chief Yevgeny Kaspersky's son Ivan has been freed as a result of a special law enforcement operation without a ransom.

"He has been freed without ransom," company spokeswoman Svetlana Novikova said.

(...)

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Ivan Kaspersky on the kidnappers brought the case on two counts

* Posted on April 24, 2011


mysouth.su/2011/04/ivan-kaspersky-on-the-kidnappers-brought-the-case-on-two-counts

Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal investigation into the kidnapping of a businessman's son Eugene Kaspersky. Suspects be charged with kidnapping and extortion, Interfax reported, citing a representative office, Vladimir Markin. 20-year-old Ivan Kaspersky was released on April 24 in Moscow without firing and payment of ransom.

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Police free kidnapped son of Russian computer entrepreneur Kaspersky
16:31 24/04/2011


www.en.rian.ru/russia/20110424/163679186.html

(...)

"The Moscow police together with the Federal Security Service and riot police have recovered Kaspersky's son in the Moscow Region," police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said on Sunday in comments carried by state news channel Rossiya 24.

(...)

MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti)

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Son of computer entrepreneur freed unharmed

www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/04/24/Son-of-computer-entrepreneur-freed-unharmed/UPI-73321303651901