Kaspersky reportedly modified its AV to help Russia steal NSA secrets

Enlarge (credit: Kaspersky Lab)

The rapidly evolving story about Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab’s involvement in helping Russian government hackers steal sensitive National Security Agency materials has taken yet another turn, as The Wall Street Journal reports that the assistance could have come only with the company’s knowledge.

Wednesday’s report, citing unnamed current and former US officials, said the help came in the form of modifications made to the Kaspersky antivirus software that’s used by more than 400 million people around the world. Normally, the programs scan computer files for malware. “But in an adjustment to its normal operations that the officials say could only have been made with the company’s knowledge, the program searched for terms as broad as ‘top secret,’ which may be written on classified government documents, as well as the classified code names of US government programs, these people said.”

The report is the latest to detail a 2015 event in which an NSA worker—described as a contractor by the WSJ and an employee in articles from The Washington Post—sneaked classified materials out of the agency and onto an Internet-connected computer that had Kaspersky AV installed on it. The WSJ, WaPo, and The New York Times have all reported that hackers working for the Russian government were able to home in on the documents with the help of the Kaspersky software.