• ikidd@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Well, it doesn’t invalidate the analysis.

      This was a sophisticated attack happening over 2 years, from knowing the current maintainer was emotionally vulnerable to the structure of using the build system to introduce the patched code to Linux distro repos.

      I’m guessing Kaspersky will come to the same conclusions many others have; that this was a state actor or similiarly well heeled group.

      • Xavienth@lemmygrad.ml
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        7 months ago

        First time I’ve seen somebody acknowledge that it’s not just nation states with such capabilities. There are some huge organized crime syndicates.

  • What_Religion_R_They [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    7 months ago

    Kaspersky is probably the best company to hear from regarding such high profile compromises. Their discovery and breakdown of the recent Apple chip backdoor revealed how the American spy machine infiltrated Apple.

        • UprisingVoltage@feddit.it
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          7 months ago

          Kaspersky has faced controversy over allegations that it has engaged with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)—ties which the company has actively denied. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security banned Kaspersky products from all government departments on September 13, 2017. In October 2017, subsequent reports alleged that hackers working for the Russian government stole confidential data from the home computer of an American National Security Agency contractor via Kaspersky antivirus software. Kaspersky denied the allegations, reporting that the software had detected Equation Group malware samples which it uploaded to its servers for analysis in its normal course of operation.[13] The company has since announced commitments to increased accountability, such as soliciting independent reviews and verification of its software’s source code, and announcing that it would migrate some of its core infrastructure for foreign customers from Russia to Switzerland. In November 2020, Kaspersky finished relocating the data of its customers from Russia to Switzerland.[14][15] The company has also opened multiple transparency centers in Switzerland, Brazil, Canada, Spain and Malaysia which allow state agencies, government experts and regulators to review its source code.[16][17]

        • porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml
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          7 months ago

          That’s not a source. By that metric every American AV has an NSA backdoor. And, ok, both of these are probably true tbh. But Kaspersky publishes extremely good security research and analysis which is just technical and totally possible to verify independently, so there’s no reason to avoid those, even if you don’t want to use their software.

        • UprisingVoltage@feddit.it
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          7 months ago

          I was curious whether some scandal about data being sent to russian govt had emerged after the war, but apparently things are as they used to be.

          Mind you, AVs have a scary control over your system, and I totally respect not wanting to use one headquartered in Russia (and since the government security agencies have ties within those companies even in the “free world” (lmao) it’s safe to assume Russian govt has them inside Kaspersky too).

          With that being said, kaspersky is actually a multinational corporation present in many areas of the world, I wonder how much influence Moscow actuallt has over them.

            • UprisingVoltage@feddit.it
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              7 months ago

              I agree and I also support the “common sense is the best av” argument, but for less tech savy people and workplaces I do think it’s necessary to have a last hope safety net against malware