Eugene Kaspersky Rejects Russian Government Links, Champions Cybersecurity Skills

Eugene Kaspersky has participated in an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit where he refuted any connection to the Russian government and promoted cyber security careers.

“They are unfounded conspiracy theories. We don’t share any user data with any government including Russia. We don’t have ties to any government other than paying taxes (we pay taxes in many countries as we are a very international company),” he told Reddit users in response to allegations by the US government than Kaspersky software could be used by Russia to spy on US citizens.

“Our software is designed to protect our customers, not to breach into their devices. There is no hidden functionality in our products, including backdoors.”

Kaspersky on cyber skills

The founder and chief executive of Kaspersky, advised young Reddit users to pursue a career in cyber security and pick up the digital skills needed for the jobs of the future.

“I recommend [learning about] cryptology, if you can do that, you can do anything. A college degree is not necessary, but university education is a very good helper to a bright mind,” he said.

Kaspersky also revealed how his company tackles individual cyber threats: “99.99 percent of the incoming malicious code is dealt with automatically by our self-learning systems.”

“The rest goes into the hands of our virus analysts working around the clock; mostly their job is about reverse-engineering of malicious code. Very complicated cases go to our special team of experts, and large investigations look more like collecting a very big and complicated puzzle, rather than the one-on-one battle of a chess game.”

He also championed the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the world of tech, though he does not expect to see the rise of the machines in this century.

“Nobody knows how the technology landscape will look [in 10/20 years]. If someone knows, he or she will be a billionaire. I don’t think real AI will exist in this century, but robots and machine learning can drastically change the labour situation. And it’s not the future, it’s already happening today. And the most professional hacker groups are using automation and machine learning already,” he said.

Kaspersky’s willingness to take part in an AMA is indicative of the international bent the cyber security company has, rather than an insular Russian-centric light the US government is reportedly seeing the company in.

Kaspersky himself appears to be cultivating an almost messianic role in the cyber security world, with claims of coming back in time to tackle the security threats the Internet of Things could yield.

Are you a security pro? Try our quiz!