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While most people will have heard of Kaspersky Lab, some may not be that familiar with its origins. Could you give us a little history behind the company?
Eugene Kaspersky founded Kaspersky Lab in 1997 and as CEO, he continues to lead Kaspersky Lab’s technology strategy and focus.
From our headquarters in Moscow, Kaspersky Lab grew out of developing unique anti-malware detection technologies, responding to new threats and by partnering with some of the leading names in IT security to include the Kaspersky Lab antimalware engine in their products. This helped Kaspersky Lab to become a trusted brand in IT security.
From there, the company developed award-winning consumer products, followed by corporate solutions for businesses. Then it began to expand into Europe and then the rest of the world. It has become the fastest growing internet security company globally, with nearly 100,000 new customers every day. Today, 250 million people are protected by Kaspersky Lab.
What are the major issues affecting the security sector at the moment, and how is Kaspersky addressing them?
More and more, people understand the need to take steps to secure their online life and the importance of staying safe online.
We’re taking positive action and not only through our products. We continue to educate and provide information to consumers, helping them to better understand the risks and how to stay safe. One such example is our free Your Guide To Stopping Cybercrime guide.
Are there any demographics you would say you particularly focus on with your advertising and promotions?
We detect more than 17,000 threats each day, so if you are online and have a PC, laptop, or netbook, you need up-todate protection. We have a very wide target audience, including parents, young people and the more mature internet user. They are the key target audiences that we support, and we aim to provide them with a better understanding of what the risks are and how they and others can better protect themselves.
The technical user community also remains a very important market for us to continue to work with.
You’ve had a great deal of success licensing out your engine to other security vendors, including Check Point and F-Secure. What do you feel makes it such an attractive proposition for other security vendors to work with you?
Kaspersky Lab’s technology is licensed to over 100 OEM partners and the reason for our success with these partners is a combination of our technical capabilities, vision in terms of developing and continuing to develop new technologies to stay one step ahead of the cybercriminals and the performance of our solution when integrated within other products.
Kaspersky started off developing security software for PCs, before expanding into other areas like smart phones. Where do you think the next big area is?
We are about to release a product specifically dedicated to netbooks which addresses a growing market and it will be an interesting addition to our product range.
Internet security for smartphones is not yet the next big area, but certainly, based on the rapid development of smart phones (in 2007 the number of smart phones shipped worldwide was approximately equal to that of laptops. However it is anticipated that it will be almost double in 2010), and the accessibility to the internet through these devices, we believe this will represent a significant growth area in the not to distant future.
Where are you planning on being in a few years time?
Kaspersky has one main aim – to be the world’s leading internet security company and provide the best quality internet security to everyone we possibly can.
