Microsoft is not trying to block access says Kaspersky

PARIS - Microsoft’s new operating system Vista will not make it more difficult for anti-virus systems to work, Russian computer security group and potential IPO candidate Kaspersky Lab said on Friday, contradicting rivals.

In an open letter this week, U.S. anti-virus provider McAfee

accused Microsoft of weakening users’ protection by no longer co-operating with computer security groups and denying them access to the core of the Vista system.

“From what we have seen of Vista we cannot tell that Microsoft is blocking access to the core,” Kaspersky Lab Chief Executive and co-founder Natalya Kaspersky told Reuters in an interview in Paris.

“It would not make any sense for them (Microsoft) to stop working with other computer security companies because it would make their system more vulnerable to attacks,” Kaspersky added.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software group, entered the computer security market in June with OneCare, a software that aims to protect computers from viruses, spyware and other ailments.

The U.S. software giant fired back on Monday, saying that it had worked closely with computer security companies throughout the development of Vista and planned to continue to do so.

“Microsoft would have to change their business completely if what McAfee says was true,” Kaspersky said, explaining that Microsoft’s business model was based on working with other providers.

POSSIBLE LONDON FLOTATION

Kaspersky said Microsoft had held its traditional annual meeting with computer security companies this summer and she had not noticed co-operation was weakening.

In its open letter on Monday McAfee alleged that Microsoft had firmly embedded in Vista its own security system which could not be disabled even when users purchased an alternative security product.

“Microsoft seems to envision a world in which one giant company not only controls the systems that drive most computers around the world but also the security that protects those computers from viruses and other online threats,” McAfee said in its letter.

Symantec and other computer security companies have backed McAfee’s criticism of the Microsoft Vista system.

Microsoft has rejected their allegations and said it wished to deliver a secure version of Windows Vista that would be compliant with EU law.

Kaspersky Lab, which was founded in 1997 in Moscow, said it was considering floating on London’s junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM) within the next three years.

However, it said it wanted to wait and see first how Microsoft’s new anti-virus product OneCare would fare on the market before talking to investors and seeking a listing.

“After one or two years, we will see what position on the market Microsoft’s OneCare product gets and perhaps it will turn out that Microsoft is just one among other providers of anti-virus software,” Kaspersky said.

Kaspersky’s anti-spam software uses artificial intelligence - it reads and analyses word combinations. The company’s consultants can work days on virus attacks which target specific companies or organisations.

Its customers include the BBC Worldwide, France Telecom, Telecom Italia Mobile, Russia’s largest retail bank Sberbank and several Russian ministries such as railway and finance.

Kaspersky said she had noticed that anti-virus police forces around the world lacked resources.

NEW VIRUSES

She said new forms of attacks emerged every month or two.

Among the latest, most dangerous forms, was spyware which allowed attackers to surreptitiously access files and information such as credit card details left after making a purchase online.

She said potent “rootkits” were also being developed to prevent anti-virus software to work.

Kaspersky, which has offices in California, Asia and Europe, employs 500 staff, is controlled by Natalya Kaspersky and her ex-husband Yevgeny Kaspersky, a former cryptologist. Together they own about 80 percent of the company.

She said the business was profitable on a pre-tax basis and had enjoyed sales growth of nearly 20 percent in the past few years.

She declined to provide precise revenue figures but said annual sales estimates of between $30 million and $60 million were realistic.

Kaspersky said the total amount of money stolen and the damage caused by cyber-crime every year was far greater than the global market for computer security systems which she said was worth about $6 billion in annual sales.

// October 7th, 2006