Russians used Kaspersky software for hacks, Israeli spies report

Israeli intelligenceofficials spying on Russian government hackers found they wereusing Kaspersky Lab antivirus software that is also used by 400million people globally, including U.S. government agencies,according to media reports on Tuesday.

The Israeli officials who had hacked into Kaspersky'snetwork over two years ago then warned their U.S. counterparts of the Russian intrusion, said The New York Times, which firstreported the story.

That led to a decision in Washington only last month toorder Kaspersky software removed from government computers.

The Washington Post also reported on Tuesday that theIsraeli spies had also found in Kaspersky's network hacking tools that could only have come from the U.S. National SecurityAgency.

After an investigation, the NSA found that those tools werein possession of the Russian government, the Post said.

And late last month, the U.S. National Intelligence Councilcompleted a classified report that it shared with NATO allies concluding that Russia's FSB intelligence service had "probableaccess" to Kaspersky customer databases and source code, thePost reported.

That access, it concluded, could help enable cyberattacksagainst U.S. government, commercial and industrial control networks, the Post reported.

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The New York Times said the Russian operation, according tomultiple people briefed on the matter, is known to have stolenclassified documents from a National Security Agency employeewho had improperly stored them on his home computer, which hadKaspersky antivirus software installed on it.

It is not yet publicly known what other U.S. secrets theRussian hackers may have discovered by turning the Kaspersky
software into a sort of Google search for sensitive information,the Times said.

The current and former government officials who describedthe episode spoke about it on condition of anonymity because ofclassification rules, the Times said.

The newspaper said the National Security Agency and theWhite House declined to comment, as did the Israeli Embassy,while the Russian Embassy did not respond to requests forcomment.

The Russian embassy in Washington last month called the banon Kaspersky Lab software "regrettable" and said it delayed theprospects of restoring bilateral ties.

Kasperskydenies involvement

Kaspersky Lab denied to the Times any knowledge of, orinvolvement in, the Russian hacking. "Kaspersky Lab has neverhelped, nor will help, any government in the world with itscyberespionage efforts," the company said in a statement onTuesday.

Eugene Kaspersky, the company's co-founder and chiefexecutive, has repeatedly denied charges his company conductsespionage on behalf of the Russian government.

Kaspersky spokeswoman Sarah Kitsos told the Washington Poston Tuesday that "as a private company, Kaspersky Lab does nothave inappropriate ties to any government, including Russia, andthe only conclusion seems to be that Kaspersky Lab is caught inthe middle of a geopolitical fight."She said the company "doesnot possess any knowledge"of Israel's hack, the Post said.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that RussianPresident Vladimir Putin ordered a multipronged digitalinfluence operation last year in an attempt to help Donald Trumpwin the White House, a charge Moscow denies.

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