British Intelligence service is reportedly worried that Kaspersky Antivirus offered by Barclays to its customers may be being used by Russian Intelligence agency to spy, according to The Financial Times.
An unnamed official told The Financial Times that GCHQ, British intelligence agency has concerns over widespread distribution of Kaspersky in the UK.
Intelligence officials fear that this might allow Russia to gather intelligence from the computers of Government employees members of the military who are customers of the Bank and have downloaded the software.
The Financial Times added that "No evidence suggests that any data of Barclays customers have been compromised by use of Kaspersky software on their computers."
However, the bank said they were planning to end the deal with Kaspersky for commercial reasons that doesn't have any connection with the GCHQ concerns.
Kaspersky denied the allegations and said the company does not have inappropriate ties with any government.
"No credible evidence has been presented publicly by anyone or any organization. The accusations of any inappropriate ties with the Russian government are based on false allegations and inaccurate assumptions, including the claims about Russian regulations and policies impacting the company." Kaspersky said.
Earlier this year, US Spymasters and FBI chief said that they do not trust software from Russian antivirus company Kaspersky.
- Christina
