A classified U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee meeting on May 24 included FBI and Homeland Security officials discussing Kaspersky Lab's business, according to ABC News.
The meeting's original agenda involved Russia's alleged meddling in last year's presidential election, according to the report. But the agenda expanded to specifically include an update on U.S. intelligence about Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, the report said.
Current and former U.S. officials worry that state-sponsored hackers could try to exploit Kaspersky Lab’s anti-virus software to steal and manipulate users’ files, read private emails or attack critical infrastructure in the U.S, ABC said. And they point to Kaspersky Lab executives with previous ties to Russian intelligence and military agencies, the report said.
Kaspersky Lab has repeatedly denied speculation of ties to the Russian government. CEO and co-founder Eugene Kaspersky, a Russian entrepreneur, hosted a Reddit Ask Me Anything session earlier this month to further counter the alleged ties. The executive has even offered to show Kaspersky Lab's source code, he stated during an interview in Australia this week.
PS: Special thanks to the source who mentioned the ABC report to me.
