Kaspersky Lab: Russia's global IT security company on the rise - part 1

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 07 December 2010 16:08

Business IT - Security

Kaspersky Lab, the international Russian tech security titan that is 89th on the list of top 100 Russian companies and growing fast, has launched a range of new products for consumers, businesses, enterprise and government, effectively declaring out-all war to protect its 300m+ users from the cyber criminals that threaten the very Internet as we know it!

At the end of November I had the pleasure of attending a 3-day 'international press tour' on Kaspersky Lab, in the company's home town of Moscow in Russia, to learn about new products, strategy and to meet some key executives, with the trip funded by Kaspersky Lab. 

What follows is a multi-page report on what was shared at the conference, including stats and forecasts, useful for anyone interested in the IT security industry, useful for Kaspersky's competitors to get a glimpse into its thoughts, and useful for potential customers to see what kind of company Kaspersky Lab is.

Things started on the day before the official 'first day', where I met and interviewed Eugene Kaspersky, the CEO and co-founder of his eponymous company, Kaspersky Labs.

Started in 1997, Kaspersky is now a global security brand providing security to Windows, Mac and Linux platforms for consumers, businesses, enterprise and government, and even pioneered mobile security products on the Symbian platform, something that has been extended to Android in the enterprise and in beta for consumers, with other mobile platforms including BlackBerry to come.

Although the company made no mention of it, a search online put Kaspersky at 89th on the list of top 100 Russian companies, something that shows the tremendous growth the company has enjoyed over the past 13 years, so much so that it has been able to reach #1 status for Internet security sales in several countries, works with martial-arts action star Jackie Chan for high impact marketing and branding, and puts pedal to the metal in the F1 stakes as a new sponsor of Ferrari.

On the first day of the official conference, Eugene Kaspersky opened the proceedings with a short speech, welcoming everyone present and noting how much the Internet has impacted all of our lives, and the speed with which everything is changing.

Mr Kaspersky noted that his generation knew what life was like without the Internet or even electricity, but that many of today's children are 'connected from the very beginning'.

He went on to say that 'we have no idea what we will see over the next few years, new tech, new innovations' - even going on to mention a telephone watch that he'd seen the previous day, which happened to be LG's groundbreaking 3G watch phone that I wear on my wrist, as I had shown it to him, leading to a quip that one day Kaspersky Lab could introduce an 'Internet Anti-Virus Rolex Edition' - something that might one day end up being more fact than fiction!

Then Mr Kaspersky turned towards the 'cyber vandals following the IT industry', noting that at the beginning, when computers were 'toys', there were 'toy viruses' which were not serious, merely ways for cyber hoodlums to show off.

But as 'computer systems become standard in the business world', we saw that 'computer viruses started to attach business processes', with viruses starting to steal money from users and banks, and malware now following new technologies and new services.

Mr Kaspersky noted that the 'IT security industry follows malware', and that 'all of these changes happened within a very short period of time', prompting Mr Kaspersky to note that it's 'why I like my job - within 2 or 3 years, it's not the same as it was in the past, it's completely different'.

Continued on page two, please read on!