Kaspersky Lab (; Russian: Лаборатория Касперского, romanized: Laboratoriya Kasperskogo) is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia, and operated by a holding company in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1997 by Eugene Kaspersky, Natalya Kaspersky and Alexey De-Monderik. Kaspersky Lab develops and sells antivirus, internet security, password management, endpoint security, and other cybersecurity products and services.
Kaspersky expanded abroad from 2005 to 2010 and grew to $704 million in annual revenues by 2020, up 8% from 2016, though annual revenues were down 8% in North America due to US government security concerns. As of 2016, the software has about 400 million users and has the largest market-share of cybersecurity software vendors in Europe. Kaspersky Lab ranks fourth in the global ranking of antivirus vendors by revenue. It was the first Russian company to be included into the rating of the world's leading software companies, called the Software Top 100 (79th on the list, as of June 29, 2012). Kaspersky Lab is ranked 4th in Endpoint Security segment according to IDC data for 2010.
The Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) has led the discovery of sophisticated espionage platforms conducted by nations, such as Equation Group and the Stuxnet worm. Various covert government-sponsored cyber-espionage efforts were uncovered through their research. Kaspersky also publishes the annual Global IT Security Risks Survey. As of 2014, Kaspersky's research hubs analyze more than 350,000 malware samples per day.
The US government has alleged that Kaspersky has engaged with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)—ties which the company has actively denied. In 2017, it was alleged that hackers working for the Russian government stole confidential data from the home computer of a US National Security Agency contractor via Kaspersky antivirus software. In response to these and other allegations, Kaspersky began to solicit independent reviews and verification of its source code, and relocated core infrastructure and customer data from Russia to Switzerland. Multiple countries have banned or restricted their government agencies from using Kaspersky products, including Lithuania, the Netherlands, and the United States. On 20 June 2024, the US announced that it would prohibit Kaspersky from selling or distributing updates to its software to US customers which caused the cybersecurity company to leave the US market the following month.
