FILE – This Monday, Jan. 30, 2017, file photo shows a sign above the headquarters of Kaspersky Lab in Moscow. On Monday, Oct. 23, 2017, Kaspersky Lab said it will open up its anti-virus software to outside review as it deals with security concerns. The company is making the move a month after the U.S. government barred agencies from using its software. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)EPB will soon replace a Russian brand of security software the municipal utility has provided to consumers for the past four years amid concerns the company has ties to state-sponsored cyber espionage activities.
The Kaspersky Lab software now provided as a security option for EPB Fiber Optic customers will be replaced in coming weeks by McAfee Software Security.
EPB’s action follows a September directive to federal agencies to remove the Kaspersky software on the grounds that the company has connections to the Russian government and its software poses a security risk.
Kapersky’s anti-virus software is used by more than 400 million people around the world to help protect computer users against internet viruses. But critics claim it was used by Russian hackers as a search tool to find code names of American intelligence programs running on computers around the globe.
Kaspersky has long denied any links with Russia’s spy agencies. But in 2015, a National Security Agency contractor that had classified documents on his home computer was allegedly targeted because of his use of Kaspersky Lab anti-virus software. The Russian cybersecurity company apparently used the file inventory process that Kaspersky anti-virus uses to discover sensitive files and target the contractor.