Kaspersky Lab Says Transparency Center In Zurich Helped Handle Setbacks From US Ban

Kaspersky Lab Says Transparency Center in Zurich Helped Handle Setbacks From US Ban

The decision by Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab to open a transparency center in the Swiss city of Zurich has definitely helped it to tackle the negative backlash it faced after the United States placed a ban on its products, Anton Shingarev, the company's vice president for public affairs, told Sputnik

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th November, 2019) The decision by Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab to open a transparency center in the Swiss city of Zurich has definitely helped it to tackle the negative backlash it faced after the United States placed a ban on its products, Anton Shingarev, the company's vice president for public affairs, told Sputnik.

In 2018, Kaspersky set up its first European center in Zurich. This happened after the US initiated a crackdown on the company's software in government agencies in response to Russia's alleged 2016 election meddling. A similar center opened in Madrid this June. These facilities monitor product source codes and process suspicious data from European users.

"Trust is a delicate matter. It's easy to lose it, and it takes a long time to win it back, [but it] definitely helps. The transparency center has been operating for a year. We have come to the interesting conclusions that the regulators from various European countries, including France, say that 'it [the center] is very important to us, the opportunity itself is important for us, but we will not go and check it out yet as we already know that everything is fine with your source code. We know that your product is safe and we have no plans to ban it, but the opportunity itself to visit [the facility] if there are questions from politicians is important,'" Shingarev said when asked whether opening a center in Zurich has helped boost confidence in Kaspersky's products after the US ban.

At the same time, the launch of a transparency center in Asia, initially slated for this year, has been put off until 2020, the executive noted.

"We have announced [the opening of] the new one in Asia. We have announced it in August, [and it will be] in Malaysia. We have not built it yet, and we are agreeing on a place right now, but we will definitely open it next year," Shingarev said when asked whether the company had already opened a center in Asia.

Kaspersky Lab's transparency centers are open to government experts and enterprise clients responsible for cybersecurity who want to review the company's code, software updates, threat detection rules, and other technical and business processes. As the company says on its website, the information provided by the centers is for consultation purposes only.