Kaspersky Lab
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997[1] |
| Founder | Eugene Kaspersky |
| Headquarters | Moscow, Russia |
| Area served | Computer security |
| Key people | Eugene Kaspersky Natalia Kasperskaya Vitaly Bezrodnykh |
| Industry | Computer software |
| Products | Security |
| Revenue | US$85.3 million ▲76% (2006)[2] |
| Net income | US$67.3 million ▲69% (2006)[2] |
| Employees | 600 (August 2007) |
| Website | Kaspersky.com |
Kaspersky Lab (pronounced /kæsˈpɝski læb/) is a computer security company, co-founded by Natalia Kasperskaya and Eugene Kaspersky in 1997, offering antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, and anti-intrusion products. Kaspersky Lab is a privately held company headquartered in Moscow, Russia with regional offices in Germany, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Japan, China, Korea and the USA[1].
In 2005, Red Herring magazine listed Kaspersky among "Red Herring 100 Europe", a selection of the 100 private companies in Europe and Israel that play a leading role in innovation and technology.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus engine also powers products or solutions by other security vendors, such as Check Point, Bluecoat, Juniper Networks, Sybari (now acquired by Microsoft), Netintelligence, GFI Software, F-Secure, Borderware, FrontBridge, G-Data, Netasq, and others. Altogether, more than 120 companies are licensing technology from Kaspersky, which makes it one of the most widely used antivirus engines in the industry.
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[edit] Media claims
In early 2005, Kaspersky Labs revealed that it was contacted by "a user asking how to disinfect the onboard computers of several Lexus cars... The user said that the infection occurred via a mobile phone". Lexus later said they had investigated the virus rumor and determined it to be without foundation.[3]
On 5 April 2007, Kaspersky Labs claimed to have found a virus that infects Apple's popular iPod music player. The press release stated: "It should be stressed that in order for the virus to function, Linux has to be installed on the iPod." [4][5] Kaspersky Internet Security 7 and 2009 includes a built in option called "Roll-back" technology. When an infection is detected, it will give you the option to "Roll-back", which will take your computer back right before the infection was detected, so it is as if your computer was never infected. Having this option makes it able to get rid of threats other antivirus software cannot. An example being Smitfraud-C., which was an epidemic for most companies.
[edit] Products
- See also: Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Kaspersky Internet Security, and Kaspersky Mobile Security
The current line of Kaspersky products consists of Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS) 2009, Kaspersky Anti-Virus (KAV) 2009, and Kaspersky Mobile Security (KMS). Kaspersky products are widely used in Eastern Europe and Asia, but have not been strongly marketed in North America and Western Europe. However, US-based magazine PC World recently awarded Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 the Editor's Choice in its 2007 anti-virus comparative (partnered with AV-Test.org), a move which will likely result in more widespread use in the Western Hemisphere. For example, it is now being marketed by Sam's Club in tandem with the Symantec Norton product line, which has been more popular in the USA.
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The latest line of Kaspersky products are certified for Windows Vista.
[edit] Independent assessments
The anti-virus software testing group Av-Comparatives gave the Windows XP version of Kaspersky AV an "Advanced+" rating (its highest) in both its February 2008 on-demand detection test (with the fourth highest detection rate among 16 products tested)[6][citation needed] and its November 2007 retrospective / proactive detection test (with the second highest detection rate among 17 products)[7][citation needed].
The firewall included in Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 got a Very good rating in Matousec's Firewall challenge [8], with a result of 85%. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0 has achieved a 6.5 result out of 8 in the Anti Malware Labs Rootkit detection test [9]. It has also achieved a 31 out of 33 detection of polymorphic viruses [10] and 97% result in Self-Protection test.[11]
According to an independent test center, Kaspersky Anti-Virus (formerly known as AntiViral Toolkit Pro) rates highly amongst virus scanners in terms of detection rates.[citation needed] In 2007 Kaspersky Internet Security 7 received an award from the British magazine PC Pro and also won a place in its "A List".[12]
In addition, Kaspersky has almost passed all Virus Bulletin comparative tests since August 2003(failed:June 07,Dec 07 and June 08 http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?vendor=VE15). According to PC World magazine, Kaspersky antivirus software provides the fastest updates for new virus and security threats in the industry.[13] In the latest Av-Comparatives test, the Technical Release build of Kaspersky 2009 achieved a nearly 85% proactive detection rate, when including both heuristic analysis and Host-based Intrusion Prevention System methods. Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 got a 6.0 rating(the highest rating) by the UK magazine PC PRO[14]
[edit] Litigation and incompetent behavior
In May 2007, Adware distributor Zango filed a lawsuit against Kaspersky Lab, accusing it of trade libel for blocking the installation of Zango software. In August, the court ruled that the Communications Decency Act granted immunity to Kaspersky.[15]
Kaspersky Antivirus and Kaspersky Internet Security version 2009, forces users to uninstall Spybot during installation process, although there is no serious incompatibility yet known. The discussion was concluded in the Kaspersky forum, which said not to install Spybot at all. Kaspersky seems to be reluctant to fix the issue although they have received several complaints.[16]
[edit] References
- ^ a b About Us
- ^ a b "http://www.cnews.ru/news/line/index.shtml?2007/07/23/259875". CNews. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
- ^ "Lexus automobile virus (urban legend)", Vmyths.
- ^ "Kaspersky Lab discovers the first virus for iPod", Kaspersky Labs (2007-04-05).
- ^ "Kaspersky Lab reports first iPod virus, sort of". Tech news blog - CNET News.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
- ^ Anti-Virus comparative February 2008
- ^ Retrospective Test November 2007
- ^ Results and comments - matousec.com
- ^ Anti-rootkit tests | Anti-Malware Test Lab
- ^ Anti-Malware Solutions Test Results | Anti-Malware Test Lab
- ^ Self-protection test | Anti-Malware Test Lab
- ^ "Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 receives two top awards in testing conducted by the British magazine PC Pro", Kaspersky Labs (2007-04-05).
- ^ "Anti-Virus Personal 5.0 (Full Product)", PC World Magazine (2005-01-25). Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
- ^ 1|url=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/215343/kaspersky-antivirus-2009.html|title=PC PRO review of Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009
- ^ "Zango tries, fails to sue its way out from under the "spyware" label". ars technica (August 30, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-05.
- ^ http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=33577
