Eugene Kaspersky. The Internet's 'Savior' or Its Biggest Threat?

Good Evening ATS,

Recently, I have become increasingly interested in one of Russia's (and the world's) most interesting, and wealthiest men: Eugene Kaspersky, founder of one the world's largest cyber-security firms, Kaspersky Labs.

The Man.

Born October 4, 1965, in Novorossiysk, USSR, Eugene Kaspersky is the son of a poor family that lived in a one bedroom "hut" that was once home to hard-labor victims during Stalin's Regime.

During his youth, he was noted as being extremely intelligent, specifically in the mathematics field. In a autobiography available online on his official blog, Kaspersky writes,

From my early years I became interested in mathematics. One of my favorite hobbies in high school was solving quizzes published in technical magazines. Luckily my mother soon cottoned-on to my inclination for mathematics, and decided – thankfully! – to cultivate my talents with a specialized education.

Due to his extreme intelligence in the mathematics and science fields, Kaspersky was accepted into the Russian Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications and Computer Science, a school long affiliated with the Soviet Government and the KGB. After graduating from the Institute in 1987, Kaspersky became a officer with the Soviet Army, specifically in the technology field. Much of the work he conducted there is still "top-secret" and his refuses to comment on what it was he did for the Soviets.

In 1989, he encountered his first computer virus, and over the next decade became increasingly obsessed with computers and specifically, cyber security. In a controversial move, Eugene was given a discharge from the Army (possibly due to a personal relationship with a professor at the Institute). In 1997, he founded Kaspersky Lab with two other individuals and began to offer anti-virus and cyber security software. His company was the first to allow the "sandboxing" of viruses and Now, over a decade after it was founded, Kaspersky's Software is used by over 300 million people worldwide, and has sales of over $600 million a year.

The Goal

In 2010, Kaspersky Labs gained global infamy for discovering a worm that had infected dozens of Iranian computers. It was later discovered that this program, now referred to as Stuxnet, was the world's first true "cyberweapon" and had been created by a US-Israeli team commissioned by the White House to sabotage Iranian nuclear efforts.

Later, in May of 2012, Kaspersky discovered a second virus, this one infecting 417 computers, including 185 in Iran alone. Nicknamed "Flame" due to a script that allowed the virus to spread to other computers, this worm was intended to capture and transmit information, specifically design and architectural data, and send it to remote servers. One of the largest and most sophisticated malicious programs ever discovered, this program too was later discovered to have been created by a US-Israeli team targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.

The ousting of these programs is part of Kaspersky and his company's goal "to serve as a global crime-stopper and peacekeeper" and "to save the world." One of the company's newest goals is:

It’s an industrial control system, a computer for operating heavy machinery, just like the ones that Stuxnet attacked. Kaspersky’s team is quietly working on new ways to harden these systems against cyberattack—to protect the power grids and prisons and sewage plants that rely on these controllers. The idea is to make future Stuxnets harder to pull off.

Over the last half-decade, Eugene Kaspersky has risen to a near-icon to nearly everyone involved in the IT field and is increasingly becoming heavily involved in politics, including the sponsorship of multiple racing teams and a close relationship with Putin's Government.

For every positive action, such as the proposal by Kaspersky to ban cyber warfare on an international level as with biochemical warfare and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Kaspersky and his company seem to be involved with some negative force.

Hypocrisy?

With the rise of the Arab Spring came a double-edged sword in the IT World. On one hand, there had never been such a proliferation of social media and its usage in the uprisings globally is without a doubt the leading factor in the upheaval of multiple governments by their subjects. On the other hand, social media and the internet has been used by global forces of terror (whether clearly defined such as Al Qaeda or a gray area such as Anonymous).

In December 2011, Russia was preparing to undergo another round of parliamentary elections. However, on the eve of Voting Day, a massive series of DDOS attacks took down hundreds of sites across Russia, mainly focusing on social media sites that served as hotbeds of opposition towards the incumbent party. Kaspersky's software, which claims to be able to detect such attacks, failed to recognize any of these attacks, with Kaspersky claiming that many of such attacks were a result of the sites' own popularity.

For men like Kaspersky, there is one answer for such sites:

Restrictions

Kaspersky can’t stand social networks like Facebook or its Russian competitor, VK (formerly known as VKontakte). “People can manipulate others with the fake information,” he says, “and it’s not possible to find who they are. It’s a place for very dangerous action.” Especially dangerous, he says, is the role of social networks in fueling protest movements from Tripoli to Moscow, where blogger Alexei Navalny has emerged as perhaps the most important dissident leader and sites like VK and LiveJournal have helped bring tens of thousands of people into the streets. Kaspersky sees these developments as part of a disinformation campaign by antigovernment forces to “manipulate crowds and change public opinion.”

These same views have been shown across the globe by men such as the Head of FSB to Middle Eastern Dictators in attempt to justify the censorship of the Internet. In recent years, these views have grown momentum with the International Telecommunications Union and multiple other International and Domestic bodies. For Kaspersky the solution is a system that is nearly identical to the one that exists in the physical world.

It includes requiring strictly monitored digital passports for some online activities and enabling government regulation of social networks to thwart protest movements. “It’s too much freedom there,” Kaspersky says, referring to sites like Facebook. “Freedom is good. But the bad guys—they can abuse this freedom to manipulate public opinion.”

A passport system. With the proposed system, the internet would be cordoned off into "states" which require individuals to register specific passport information in which access can granted or denied. While the system could potentially be helpful in preventing spammers and international hackers (such as in the case of Stuxnet) from spreading globally, especially to sensitive areas, it also has the potential for a great evil.


What Say You?


Should a man with such close ties with the FSB, Russian Government and those who wish to control the free flow of information, really be allowed to control the cyber security of nearly 300 million people? Is this man the Savior he claims? Or just a pawn attempting to destroy sites like ATS that provide information to millions of people?

That is for you to decide ATS

Links:

Wired

Bio

it doesnt sound good at all.it would only serve against the small guy.as we see now in real life.the major players will still have axcces to fake identity or theft of identity to get by.yet the small guy will be limited greatly. imo.
seems like a major stoper of cross reference in international info. we the small guy would have.buy buy ats ,at least to a good chunk.

that was not me miss spelling,weird.it seems to hapen alot these days.

Why would anyone care what he says anyway? Does he make my internet time any less what it is? Nope... I don't use his products. He's just a brain in a skull somewhere on a planet. I don't care if he thinks bagels and hot chocolate are a good way to rehabilitate devious hackers... Or if it prevents nuclear war.

He can jump off a cliff and I'd not care. Well, maybe if there was a video of it, but why is he important? So his company can catch a virus. Big deal...

and it's not even *that* good at it..

Interesting,thanks for posting.My view is that i may as well go with Kaspersky. If Internet restrictions are coming our way,it will come regardless of Kaspersky.We upgraded to Pure a few weeks ago,in fact.Bill Gates is who gives me the heebie-jeebies,i would say i see him as a threat far more than i do Eugene Kaspersky.Thats my personal opinion,based on what i learned about Gates in the past year,courtesy of ATS.For instance,Is Eugene as pro-Eugenics as Bill? I dont think so,well i have'nt seen any evidence.Its a realy good anti-virus program,and i feel comfortable using it,we've never had a reason to complain.If the Internet gets heavily restricted,or taken away from us regular people for usage,it would not be through meticulicous longterm planning and manipulation by Kaspersky ,we have the Zionist NWO agenda to thank for that-as are most of the other woes the ordinary,regular people of this world face every day.

If he is the guy who wrote the anti virus program, damn him, I loaded that program, it did not find anything anyway, as I use four free anti virus programs every day, but the damn thing stopped my computer logging into the web! so I deleted it, what a waste of time that was. I have a PC, its now seven years old.

Originally posted by winofiend
Why would anyone care what he says anyway? Does he make my internet time any less what it is? Nope... I don't use his products. He's just a brain in a skull somewhere on a planet. I don't care if he thinks bagels and hot chocolate are a good way to rehabilitate devious hackers... Or if it prevents nuclear war.

He can jump off a cliff and I'd not care. Well, maybe if there was a video of it, but why is he important? So his company can catch a virus. Big deal...

and it's not even *that* good at it..

The problem is that Kaspersky's goal is so much larger than anti-virus software centered in Eastern Europe. That was simply a way for him to make money and fame. Now, he's sitting on a platform with nowhere to go but up. As long as his company keeps doing things like discovering Stuxnet, he could possibly be able to jump to a near househould name within a few years.

With that kind of status comes power. And with a man's ideas like the ones he's pushing, power is the last thing that he needs.

While I have qualms about restricting access, it's a fact that there is too little control over criminal activity online. All one has to do to see this is look at the problems with pedophiles and the internet. The police have watched some child victims over years, that they can't track down, because there are too many ways to hide. That's a real problem. Social media? it's far too open for abuse. I have to agree with that part of what he stated. How many kids have been bullied on these sites? How many predators lurk there? How many flash mobs started as a result of some activity on such a site? heck, how many people waste their lives on those things, trying to post every single thing they do, and create their own "reality show" online? I can appreciate being able to connect with distant family, but at what cost? The privacy issues alone should worry anyone.

As for the program, I personally use it, and I have had NO issues at all. It never restricted my internet access, or stopped a program from running. The setting to place any restrictions you might want are simple to use. In fact, the program tells you if it detects any problem, and makes a suggestion, but you can decide what to do. Same for web access. Great parental controls, great protection, great program. I have had ZERO virus-type issues since we started using it. None. Seem notices that it stopped some attempt, on many occasions, to.

The guy may not be perfect (who is?), but he's got a great program, and he's right about social networks being tools for sinister forces. I don't think I would call him a savior, though, or a threat.

All computer threats are manufactured by the people who can sell the cure.