Kaspersky Lab launching transparency initiative

Kaspersky Lab says in a blog postthat it is introducing a “comprehensive transparency initiative” and will ask independent researches to do security reviews of its anti-virus software. The company is undertaking this and other measures to disspell allegations it had ties to Russian espionage.

Kaspersky says it will submit its software to “the broader information security community and other stakeholders” for review. Its anti-virus product in installed on 400 million computers globally.

The reviews are slated to begin in the first quarter of 2018.

The Kaspersky statement said the reviewers will have “strong credentials in software security and assurance testing for cyber-security products.’

Last month, President Trump barred U.S. government agencies from using Kaspersky software, saying it could harm national security due to its alleged Kremlin ties. The company has denied such ties.

In the statement, Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of the company, said “We want to show how we’re completely open and transparent. We have nothing to hide.”

The firm is also expanding its bounty program’s maximum award paid to independent security researchers to find holes in its software from $5,000 to $100,000.