Kaspersky Labs is a company which specialises in internet security and anti-virus and is a cyber security provider. It is a multinational company which has its headquarters in Moscow, Russia and also has a holding company in the United Kingdom. This company only specialises in cyber security products and Kaspersky Labs has based their whole company around such protection products.
Kaspersky Labs are the fifth largest internet security, anti virus and total security product providers. Its Anti-Virus software includes warning people about potentially suspicious and dangerous websites, monitors the PC for suspicious 3rd party activities and malware protection. Their internet security program provides you with privacy features such as parental controls and anti-phishing tools. Its total security program adds parental controls, adult website filters, a Password Application Management and many other tools. Kaspersky’s softwares are compatible with iOS, Android, Blackberries, Windows Mobile, Macs, etc.
Kaspersky offers businesses programs called business suites. These business suites include centralised user interfaces as well as the management application called the Kaspersky Security Centre. The business suite also has quarantine and other added features for extra protection. Kaspersky even offers a Kaspersky Small Office Security for small businesses with 25 or less employees.
Kaspersky Labs has also faced a few controversies with the Russian Federal Security Service. The US Department of Homeland Security banned all government departments from using Kaspersky products. The company faced allegations that the workers for the government tried to hack into the home computer of the National Security Agency and tried to steal confidential data. The hacking was done using Kaspersky’s antivirus software. Kaspersky denied all such allegations saying that the program had detected the suspicious activity which it had uploaded on to the servers. Since then, the company announced that it would increase accountability by soliciting independent reviews and verifying its software’s source code.
History
Kaspersky Labs was originally created by Eugene Kaspersky. Its first anti virus software was created near 1989 to combat the Cascade virus. The early versions of the anti virus software were only distributed amongst friends and families. Eugene Kaspersky, however, continued developing anti virus softwares and it soon resulted in the Antivirus Toolkit Pro. The anti virus kit as well as the Kaspersky company gained a reputable image after the Hamburg University placed the Antivirus Toolkit in the first place after a detailed analysis.
In 1998, a Taiwanese student released a virus known as CIH. At that time, only Kaspersky Lab’s AVP software was able to help deal with the virus. This led to an increase in the demand for Kaspersky Lab’s AVP software in Japan, Finland and Germany. After 1998, the company began expanding. Its revenue grew to 280 percent with 60 percent of the revenue coming in internationally. Which is when Kaspersky Labs opened in UK, Poland, Holland and China. Soon enough, it expanded in the US, Japan, Germany and France. Till 2010, it had expanded in India, Middle East and Africa.