Changes

{{cquote|As a private company, Kaspersky Lab does not have inappropriate ties to any government, including Russia, and the only conclusion seems to be that Kaspersky Lab is caught in the middle of a geopolitical fight.<ref name="mercurynews.com">http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/10/israel-hacked-kaspersky-then-tipped-the-nsa</ref>}}

{{cquote|As a private company, Kaspersky Lab does not have inappropriate ties to any government, including Russia, and the only conclusion seems to be that Kaspersky Lab is caught in the middle of a geopolitical fight.<ref name="mercurynews.com">http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/10/israel-hacked-kaspersky-then-tipped-the-nsa</ref>}}

Over a month after its first formal accusation, the U.S. revealed that it did indeed have evidence to support their claims of Kaspersky's software being used to steal information. This evidence was discovered in 2015, when Israeli hackers penetrated Kaspersky's network and discovered software which had been taken from the U.S. [[National Security Agency]].  Israel notified the NSA, which led to a lengthy investigation. It was found that the information Israel had discovered had been taken from one specific employee's computer within the Tailored Access Operations division (this person's name has not been released).  Further investigation revealed that Kaspersky's anti-virus software, which was running on the compromised computer, had been used to, at the very least, locate and identify the specific files which were taken.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/israel-hacked-kaspersky-then-tipped-the-nsa-that-its-tools-had-been-breached/2017/10/10/d48ce774-aa95-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html</ref><ref name="haaretz.com">https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.816749</ref><br />  

Over a month after its first formal accusation, the U.S. revealed that it did indeed have evidence to support their claims of Kaspersky's software being used to steal information. This evidence was discovered in 2015, when Israeli hackers penetrated Kaspersky's network and discovered software which had been taken from the U.S. [[National Security Agency]].  Israel notified the NSA, which led to a lengthy investigation. It was found that the information Israel had discovered had been taken from one specific employee's computer within the Tailored Access Operations division (this person's name has not been released).  Further investigation revealed that Kaspersky's anti-virus software, which was running on the compromised computer, had been used to, at the very least, locate and identify the specific files which were taken.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/israel-hacked-kaspersky-then-tipped-the-nsa-that-its-tools-had-been-breached/2017/10/10/d48ce774-aa95-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html</ref><ref name="haaretz.com">https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.816749</ref><br />  

Kaspersky Lab uses "silent signatures" to operate quietly in the background, as most most other such software does.  However, there were found to be elements within this silent detection system which could search for specific files in a manner unrelated to malware detection.<ref name="mercurynews.com">http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/10/israel-hacked-kaspersky-then-tipped-the-nsa</ref>  This fact combined with the discovery of highly secret U.S. software stored on their corporate network makes it appear that the company intentionally collected this information in an act of espionage. This seems likely to many, especially since the totalitarian government of Russia could force the company to do its bidding. However, The possibility remains that a "lone-wolf" or some embedded FSB agent did this, without the company's consent.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/israel-hacked-kaspersky-then-tipped-the-nsa-that-its-tools-had-been-breached/2017/10/10/d48ce774-aa95-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html</ref><ref name="haaretz.com">https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.816749</ref>

Kaspersky Lab uses "silent signatures" to operate quietly in the background, as most most other such software does.  However, there were found to be elements within this silent detection system which could search for specific files in a manner unrelated to malware detection.<ref name="mercurynews.com">http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/10/israel-hacked-kaspersky-then-tipped-the-nsa</ref>  This fact combined with the discovery of highly secret U.S. software stored on their corporate network makes it appear that the company intentionally collected this information in an act of espionage. This seems likely to many, especially since the totalitarian government of Russia could force the company to do its bidding. However, The possibility remains that a "lone-wolf" or some embedded FSB agent did this, without the company's consent.<ref name="washingtonpost.com"/><ref name="haaretz.com"/>

==References==

==References==