Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider company headquartered in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1997 by Eugene Kaspersky, Natalya Kaspersky and Alexey De-Monderik. Kaspersky Lab develops and sells antivirus, endpoint security, SIEM, XDR, and other cybersecurity products and services. The Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team has led the discovery of sophisticated espionage platforms conducted by nations, such as Equation Group and the Stuxnet worm. Their research has uncovered large-scale and highly technical cyber espionage attempts. Kaspersky also publishes the annual Global IT Security Risks Survey.
Kaspersky expanded abroad from 2005 to 2010 and grew to $822 million in annual revenues by 2024. In 2010, Kaspersky Lab ranked fourth in the global ranking of antivirus vendors by revenue. It was the first Russian company to be included into the rating of the world's leading software companies, called the Software Top 100. In 2016, Kaspersky's research hubs analyzed more than 350,000 malware samples per day. In 2016, the software had about 400 million users and was one the largest market-share of cybersecurity software vendors in Europe.
The US government has alleged that Kaspersky has engaged with the Russian Federal Security Service —ties which the company has actively denied. In 2017, the Trump administration issued a ban of Kaspersky software on federal civilian and military computers. In response to these and other allegations, Kaspersky began to solicit independent reviews and verification of its source code, and relocated core infrastructure and customer data from Russia to Switzerland. Multiple countries have banned or restricted their government agencies from using Kaspersky products, including Lithuania, the Netherlands, and the United States.
As of 2025, Kaspersky has over 30 offices in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and customers in over 200 countries.
History
The first version of Kaspersky Lab's antivirus software was developed by Eugene Kaspersky in 1989 in response to the Cascade Virus. Early versions had just 40 virus definitions and were mostly distributed to friends and family members. Kaspersky continued developing the software at KAMI, resulting in the AntiViral Toolkit Pro product released in 1992. It was popularized in 1994 after a competitive analysis by Hamburg University gave his software first place.In 1997, Eugene Kaspersky, his wife Natalya Kaspersky, and Alexey De-Monderik left KAMI to form Kaspersky Lab, and to continue developing the antivirus product, then called AVP. The product was renamed Kaspersky Anti-Virus after an American company registered the AVP trademark in the US.
In 1998, a Taiwanese student released a virus called CIH. During the first three weeks of the outbreak, Kaspersky Lab's AVP was the only software at the time able to remove it. This increased demand and led to deals with antivirus companies in Japan, Finland and Germany to integrate AVP into their software.
According to WIRED, Kaspersky's software was "advanced for the time". For example, it was the first software to monitor viruses in an isolated quarantine. The company's revenue grew 280 percent from 1998 to 2000, with about 60 percent of its revenue coming from foreign sales. Natalya worked to broker deals abroad and localize the software. It opened offices in the UK, Poland, Holland and China. It later expanded to Germany, France, the US and Japan. By 2000, the company had 65 employees and sales in more than 40 countries. Kaspersky opened new offices in South East Asia and the Middle East in 2008 and in South Africa in 2009. It also expanded in India, the Middle East and Africa in 2010. In 2009, retail sales of Kaspersky Lab's antivirus products reached almost 4.5 million copies per year.
In 2011, General Atlantic bought a 20 percent share of Kaspersky Lab for $200 million, with the expectation of helping the company go public. A few months later, the decision was made to keep the firm private and Kaspersky re-purchased the shares from General Atlantic. This was followed by numerous executive departures in 2011 and 2014 regarding disputes over going public and over Eugene Kaspersky's management style.
On January 1, 2012, Kaspersky Lab officially left the Business Software Alliance over SOPA. The BSA had supported the controversial anti-piracy bill, but Kaspersky Lab did not support it stating, "we believe that such measures will be used contrary to the modern advances in technology and the needs of consumers," and to show their disapproval, announced their intent to leave on December 5, 2011.
By 2013, the company had an unaudited $667 million in annual revenues. In 2014, Kaspersky Lab signed a distribution deal with Ingram Micro, which significantly expanded its reseller program.
In August 2015, two former Kaspersky employees alleged that the company introduced modified files into the VirusTotal antivirus database to trick software from Kaspersky competitors into triggering false positives in virus and malware scans. A possible motive is that Eugene Kaspersky allegedly was furious at competitors perceived to be "unfairly" free-riding on Kaspersky's malware discoveries via the open-source VirusTotal database. The company denied the allegations. On his personal blog, Eugene Kaspersky compared the accusations to unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. Reuters followed up by publishing leaked emails allegedly from Kaspersky alluding to "falsies" and "rubbing out" foreign competitors; Kaspersky Lab stated the emails "may not be legitimate and were obtained from anonymous sources that have a hidden agenda".
In 2016, Kaspersky executive Ruslan Stoyanov was arrested by Russian authorities on charges predating his work at Kaspersky. In 2019, he was convicted of treason.
In June 2023, Kaspersky Lab said many of its senior staff and managers were hit by an ongoing attack that it first suspected in early 2023 and has compromised thousands of iPhones. The oldest traces of infection date back to 2019. The Russian Federal Security Service separately accused the US National Security Agency and company Apple of being behind the attack and infiltrating the phones of diplomats from China, Israel, NATO members, and Syria. Kaspersky Lab said it does not believe itself to be the main target and that it had not shared its own findings about the attack with Russian authorities until the FSB announcement.
On 20 June 2024, after the US announced that it would prohibit Kaspersky from selling or distributing updates to its software to US customers and sanctioned 12 of its senior leaders, the company announced it would leave the US market. On September 25, the company abruptly replaced its software on US users' computers with UltraAV software developed by US cybersecurity firm Pango, angering some users.
Products and services
Kaspersky Lab develops and markets antivirus, internet security, password management, endpoint security, and other cybersecurity products and services. It is the fourth or fifth largest endpoint security vendor and the third largest consumer IT security software company. It is the sixth largest overall IT security company. Its revenues are about 15 percent from Russian companies domestically, one-third from European organizations and one-fourth from US organizations. The software has about 400 million users in all.Kaspersky's consumer software include the Antivirus, Internet Security and Total Security products. The Antivirus software includes malware protection, monitors the PC for suspicious program behavior, and warns users about potentially dangerous websites. The Internet Security software adds privacy features, parental controls, anti-phishing tools. Total Security adds parental controls, adult website filters, diagnostic tools, a Password Manager application, and other features. Since 2023, the new lineup was introduced, with Kaspersky Basic, Plus and Premium replacing Antivirus, Internet Security and Total Security. Kaspersky's software is available for Macs, PCs, Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian.
For businesses, the company has developed Kaspersky Industrial CyberSecurity for OT environments, and Kaspersky Hybrid Cloud Security for container infrastructures. Detection and response solutions include Kaspersky Next XDR Expert, Kaspersky Next EDR Optimum, and Kaspersky SIEM for centralized security monitoring. The company markets the Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business suite. It includes a centralized user interface and management application called the Kaspersky Security Center. The cybersecurity software itself is called the Kaspersky Security Network. The Kaspersky Administration KitSecurity Center manages configuration, installation and remote use. The business suite also has quarantine, reporting, and other features. Its software product for businesses with 25 staff or less is called Kaspersky Small Office Security. Within the suite are products specifically for virtualization security, mobile security, and fraud protection among others. Kaspersky also develops a free tool that helps businesses gain access to Windows devices that are infected by ransomware. In 2017, KasperskyOS, a secure operating system, was released, and in 2021, Kaspersky IoT Secure Gateway 100 for IoT was introduced based on it. Among cloud solutions, Kaspersky Hybrid Cloud Security protects cloud infrastructures, and Kaspersky SD-WAN ensures secure corporate networks.
KasperskyOS
KasperskyOS is a proprietary microkernel operating system built from scratch using secure-by-design principles. It's developed by Kaspersky for embedded and industrial devices with heightened cybersecurity demands. It features minimal trusted kernel, strict isolation of components in user space, default-deny policy enforcement and formal, policy-based control via the Kaspersky Security System. The aim is to create “Cyber Immune” systems that keep critical functions operating even if some parts of the system are attacked via unknown vulnerabilities. Key use cases are network equipment, industrial control/IoT gateways, smart cars, smart city and transport infrastructure, and other critical-infrastructure uses.KasperskyOS is distributed both as a platform and inside finished appliances such as the Kaspersky IoT Secure Gateway, while early deployments also appeared in Kraftway routing/switching gear.
There is a community edition for prototyping and development.