Due to increasing suspicion of Russia using Kaspersky to spy on American, hackers working for the Israeli government hacked into Kaspersky's network in 2015 and caught Russian spies who were spying on American spies, New York Times reports.
Ok let me put it this way. The Israeli hackers were spying on the Russians spies who were spying on the Americans spies, and the Americans spies were spying on everyone!
Kaspersky is a Russian firm whose antivirus software is used by over 400 million people around the world, including government officials in over two dozen American agencies.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal made a publication in which it accused the Russian antivirus provider of aiding Russian hackers in stealing highly classified NSA documents and hacking tools from a staffer's home PC in 2015.
The Moscow-based lab, in mid-2015 said it detected a sophisticated cyber-espionage backdoor within its systems. Although US is yet to provide any tangible evidence to indict Kaspersky, the firm is still under fire for its alleged role in the intrusion, a thing Kaspersky denies.
Last month the US department of Homeland Security (DHS) carried out a ban on Kaspersky antivirus software based on findings from Israeli intelligence in regards to the intrusion.
Kaspersky founder, Eugene has denied any role, knowledge or involvement in cyber espionage operation of any kind.
"Kaspersky Lab has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts," Eugene said in a statement.
Kaspersky announced that they have launched an investigation to "cross-check if US LEA has relevant facts"