Eugene Kaspersky intensifies US vs Russia flame war, accusing Bloomberg of creating 'conspiracy theories' about his company

'Speculations, assumptions and unfair conclusions based on wrong facts' says security expert

Eugene Kaspersky, founder and CEO of security firm Kaspersky Lab, has hit back at a Bloomberg article alleging he has ties with the Russian government. Bloomberg made the claims because it said Kaspersky has not yet published a report about Russian cyberespionage operations "with the same vigour" as it has on the US, Israel and the UK.

In his blog, Kaspersky accused Bloomberg of seeking to "speculate and create conspiracy theories", calling the coverage "sensationalist" and guilty of "exploiting paranoia" to "increase readership".

"There are questions that we have answered a million times: What are our links with the KGB? Why do you expose cybercampaigns by Western intelligence services? When do you plan to hire Edward Snowden? And other ones of the 'have you stopped beating your wife?' kind," wrote Kaspersky, adding that his company is "transparent" and is "always ready to dispel any speculation to the detriment of obvious facts making stories that are at odds with professional ethics".

Bloomberg notes that Kaspersky Labs has, in particular, failed to flag up any possible links between the spyware known as Sofacy – used to attack NATO, and more closely reported on by US firm FireEye – and the Russian government. It also regards the company's refusal to "work with the US in some capacity" as evidence of collusion with Russia.

"FireEye did great research, and publishing our own research after theirs made no sense," responded Kaspersky.

"We've carefully read the FireEye report, warned our users and...kept on researching the Sofacy operation."

He said the company's experts are still working on researching Sofacy, and added that Kaspersky reported on MiniDuke (another piece of malware thought to be of Russian origin) when FireEye did not – because Kaspersky got there first.

Kaspersky also branded a claim by Bloomberg that a memo was circulated at Kaspersky Labs saying "the company's highest positions would only be held by Russians" as a "false statement".

With Bloomberg's piece based largely on the words of an unnamed insider and bolstered by comments from Kaspersky's rivals at FireEye, Kaspersky's defences seem to split hairs just as equally.

As the world seems to be descending into another Cold War-style situation, is it time for security companies to start drawing lines in the sand? Please leave your comments below.