https://firstlook.org/theintercept/document/2015/06/22/kaspersky-user-agent-strings/
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Kaspersky Lab’s response to claims that intelligence agencies have reverse-engineered the company’s software products
Kaspersky lab would like to stress that documents published by The Intercept don’t describe actual computer breaches against us and other security firms or customers, but instead depict efforts to reverse engineer the software.
Kaspersky Lab’s anti-virus software doesn’t transmit information that would enable a user to be identified. When downloading updates our products process information such as serial number of the license and a depersonalized identifier for the user and machine’s IDs, which are created automatically by the products. The product requires such information for the effective download and operation of software updates. The information collected is not considered to be sensitive personal information.
At Kaspersky Lab we diligently work to protect our users and to keep our products secure through intense code review and vulnerability assessment efforts. We are closely reviewing and investigating the information disclosed in order to assess the potential level of risk it may pose to our infrastructure and how to effectively mitigate it.
The IT world changes very quickly. Security solutions are constantly evolving and being improved to meet current challenges and fight current threats. That is why we always recommend that our customers use the latest version of our products to be protected from the latest and unknown threats.
The leaked report also says that our anti-virus software �??poses a challenge�?� to some of the intelligence agencies capabilities. We find it extremely worrying that government organizations are targeting security companies instead of focusing their resources on true adversaries, and are actively working to subvert security software that is designed to keep us all safe. But this won’t stop us from protecting our users from any type of cyberthreat – regardless of its origin.
Once again, we would like to stress the need for security companies to work together as a community and fight for user privacy, the right to privacy on the Internet, thwart mass surveillance and make the world a safer place.
