NSA Hacked Kaspersky Labs and Other Anti-virus Software to Track Users

According to the latest documents revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart, Government Communications (GCHQ) Headquarters have reverse engineered the popular security firm Kaspersky Lab and other security solutions providing companies.

The US and British spy agencies have launched this attack on the anti-virus companies since 2008 to track users and breach the networks. According to the Snowden documents revealed by The Intercept, NSA  and GCHQ have reverse engineered popular security software products under “questionable legal authority” and kept an eye the web and email traffic of the users.

While different companies have been under attack, the company which is mentioned repeatedly in the report is the Russia-based Kaspersky Labs. The company is one of the leading security solutions providers, and has more than 270,000 corporate clients and claims to protect more than 400 million spread across the globe.

The attack on the antivirus companies like Kaspersky makes perfect sense as they are responsible for defending the users from inbound threats. The Intercept says that spy agencies and anti-virus companies share a cat and mouse relationship. If a spy agency is able to find weaknesses in the anti-virus software and hack it, it gives it them the obvious advantage.

By Jeet Rami