Evgeny Kaspersky is the enemy of computer viruses. History of the DNS company (chain of stores)

When we say Kaspersky, we mean antivirus. But we must not forget that behind a famous product there is a living person, with his own unique history and destiny. Today, Evgeny Kaspersky is one of the world's leading experts in the field of virus protection. He is the author of a large number of articles and reviews on the problem of computer virology, and regularly speaks at specialized seminars and conferences in Russia and abroad. Kaspersky is a member of the Computer Virus Research Organization (CARO), which brings together the most prominent experts in the field.

“A man-brand” is how Sergey Girdin, president of the Marvel group of companies, briefly and succinctly characterizes Evgeniy Kaspersky. No less vivid epithets were chosen for him by the general director of Croc, Boris Bobrovnikov: “Transnational monster...”.

Success story, Biography of Evgeny Kaspersky

Evgeny Valentinovich Kaspersky was born on October 4, 1965 in the city of Novorossiysk. Since childhood, the boy developed an interest in mathematics, which his mother noticed and began buying special books for her son. After a specialized mathematical boarding school at Moscow State University, Evgeniy graduated from the Institute of Cryptography, Communications and Informatics. This was in the late 80s. At that time, finding a job in this specialty was not exactly a problem, but at least a serious topic for thought.

And since by this time Kaspersky had already managed to start a family (not only a wife, but also two children), it was worth taking the choice seriously. As a result, the military area was chosen. The reason was two things. Firstly, the idea of ​​instilling discipline in oneself seemed interesting, which the army definitely contributes to. Secondly, while still at school, recruiters from one extremely closed research institute of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces came to Evgeniy - and made the most pleasant impression on the young man.

However, the service did not promise mountains of gold, but I wanted to develop and move forward. Kaspersky tried to set up a part-time job at the same time, participating in the activities of a cooperative that was engaged in PC trading. But the idea was not crowned with success, if not to say it failed miserably. He never sold a single car. But he learned a valuable lesson from the situation: management and trade are not his element.

How a hobby turns into a source of income

It is unknown what other areas he would have tried himself in if it were not for the “Cascade” virus, which by chance appeared on his car in 1989. Having discovered the “disease,” Kaspersky was able to “dissect” the virus without any problems (however, it is unlikely that an average programmer would have been hired at a secret government research institute). Having disassembled the code into parts, he quickly made a program that eliminated the malicious effect. So, almost by accident - and certainly without thinking about it as the goal of his life - he wrote the first “medicine”. But one virus was followed by others.

“Why antiviruses? Once upon a time I just liked this direction, it hooked me. These are my “turtles,” if we draw an analogy with Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “Cat’s Cradle.” Only, unlike the main character of this book, I’m unlikely to do anything else, since I’ll never get bored with this thing.”

Many craftsmen around the world in those years “got their hands on” the Internet, and while some were sowing something reasonable and positive, don’t feed others bread - let them do something nasty to their neighbor. In short, there was no shortage of computer infections. Evgeny became seriously interested in the malware, but still did not think about it as a source of income. He simply collected Trojans, viruses and the like, and in his spare time created “antidotes.” Essentially an ordinary hobby.

But the earth is full of rumors. Gradually people began to turn to him for help. At first, the “hack work” brought in little money, and orders were rare and small. A couple of third-party clients and the already mentioned cooperative are, perhaps, all with whom the future head of one of the largest antivirus laboratories in the world dealt. Of course, this situation prevented us from considering a promising future market area in this area of ​​activity.

The signal to action was the first serious order. A large company developing a large software package wanted to include an anti-virus program in the package and turned to Evgeniy. At that time, this seemed almost impossible - the technologies were not the same, and, moreover, neither the customer nor the contractor had virtually any experience. The project seemed too monumental. However, trying is not torture. The contract was signed.

Although the resulting program was far from ideal, its development still brought in substantial money. A nice feature of this brainchild (pleasant for customers!) was the GUI, which competitors at that time could not boast of. MS-DOS still reigned almost everywhere, the command line was the working tool, and Windows was just taking its first timid steps “to the people.” It became clear that a hobby could easily turn into a job.

And fate, as if deciding to play it safe and fearing that the above-described case would be perceived as an exception that confirms the rule, threw Eugene another rather serious contract. Now we had a batch of computers on hand that needed to be equipped with protection. The job was done. The machines equipped with antiviruses sold well, again bringing in good earnings. This time, Kaspersky invested the money he earned in his first book, “Computer Viruses in MS-DOS,” publishing it himself. Now it has become completely stupid to deny benefits; a certain trend has emerged.

“When I started doing antivirus software in the early 1990s, I was able to secure 2-3 successful contracts. Thanks to them, I earned decent money for those times, with which I could buy a car or a VCR - then they cost about the same. But at some point I realized that if you think only about money and set your goal exclusively to earn money, then this will be the wrong path. You need to think about success, and the money will come by itself. Therefore, when I once again received a substantial amount (this was just on the eve of the so-called Pavlovian monetary reform), I bought several tons of paper with it and printed my first book. I didn't make any money from it, but I still think I accepted correct solution. I invested in my name, which over time became a well-known brand.”

What his hobby transformed into took more and more time. Kaspersky was actively interested in the topic, began attending various conferences and forums for software developers, writing articles, but he had to do everything in his free time. By the way, working in a secret research institute, it is difficult to conduct active public activities and speak at various events. I had to constantly discuss every moment with my superiors. It became clear that this could not continue for long. It was time to make a decision - either continue my military career, or quit and work closely on antiviruses.

AVP and Kaspersky Lab

The time was turbulent and incomprehensible, no one knew what would happen in the country in six months or a year, and the army at least guaranteed at least some kind of social security. « Everyone dissuaded me except Natalia , says Kaspersky. - But I was determined to leave " By the way, the jacket of Senior Lieutenant Evgeniy Kaspersky still hangs in the company’s office in a place of honor.

It must be said that it was very difficult for the young officer to leave the army. The dismissal procedure took about a year. Evgeniy did everything possible to part with the Armed Forces without conflicts. As stated in the dismissal order, he left the army due to service inconsistency. Colleagues laughed openly and asked: “In terms of service discrepancy in which direction?” Indeed, at that time, and his transfer to the reserve occurred in the spring of 1991, Evgeniy was considered the main “computer specialist” at his institute. For all questions related to software products, they turned to him. “Having taken off his shoulder straps,” Kaspersky decided to take a short vacation, but he couldn’t stay at home for more than two weeks. It didn’t take long to find a new job; there were several companies in mind. Evgeniy arranged a tender between three computer companies and on May 19, 1991, he went to work at the KAMI technical center. Until this moment, the company was not involved in the development or sale of antivirus products; there was not even such a department. However, the head of the Scientific and Technical Center, Alexey Remizov, knew Evgeniy well (at one time Remizov taught at High school KGB and read one of the special courses to Evgeniy) and trusted him completely. An anti-virus division was created especially for Kaspersky, which has already acquired a name and gained a certain authority in the computer world. At first, he was his only employee.

At first, the entire staff of the department was limited to Evgeniy himself. But he was given a full-fledged workplace, a computer and the opportunity to create. The time had come to make up for lost time, because what his then achievements were could hardly survive in a rapidly expanding market. Among domestic products, Lozinsky’s brainchild, Aidstest, was firmly in the lead at that time; Well, Western monsters like McAfee and Norton AntiVirus, which appeared in 1992, left little room for maneuver.

Working tirelessly, 12 hours a day, without vacations and often without days off, Kaspersky set about creating his own antivirus, practically making his dream come true. Gradually, in addition to him, other specialists appeared in the department. Anti-virus databases have expanded significantly. In a word, the process has begun.

By 1994, AntiViral Toolkit Pro (this is the name the project received) began to look relatively complete. It was no longer a shame to send him for testing to well-known universities and institutes, which Kaspersky was not slow to do (taking advantage of the connections he had previously developed). He sent ATP to the University of Hamburg, but when attaching the program to the letter, he accidentally mistyped it, naming the archive AVP.zip. According to tests, the development outperformed all competitors, detecting the largest number of viruses. At first, Evgeniy couldn’t figure out what other AVP people were sending him laudatory emails about. Only later did he notice the annoying typo, but it was too late to change anything - the program had already become famous under the “erroneous” name.

Also in 1994, after the triumph in Hamburg, the first contracts appeared. Immediately, right off the bat, foreign ones - with Italy and Switzerland. AVP was also sold through the KAMI Scientific and Technical Center itself, but the sales were simply ridiculous (not to mention the money raised).

“The first thing I planned when I started working was to make the best antivirus in the world. In 1994, we took first place in international software testing in Hamburg. Then it became clear that we were going the right way. Even if the project had not brought in a lot of money, we did not start it in vain - it became one of the best in the world. It was only at the next stage that I set out to create the number one company in Russia.”

In 1994, Natalya Kasperskaya joined her husband’s work, first working in the KAMI store, and then moving to the antivirus department itself, as a manager. She was entrusted with practically the main task at that time - to organize sales of the product.

In the ruins of what until recently was the Soviet Union, it was difficult to do business, and even more so in the IT business. Things weren't going well for KAMI in the best possible way, while Evgeniy’s department little by little acquired serious agreements and contracts. The affiliate network began to be built through trial and error. Particularly significant moments were the deal with 1C in 1996 and the agreement with the large Finnish company F-Secure on the use of the AVP kernel in their anti-virus products. Around the same period, Natalya started talking about creating her own company and separating from KAMI. At first, Evgeniy did not share his wife’s ideas, speaking out against it, but when everything at the Scientific and Technical Center became completely bleak, he gave up.

Thus, on July 21, 1997, the independent enterprise Kaspersky Lab was born. The wife again insisted that our hero’s surname should be used in the title. The public has already become accustomed to AVP as a product “by Eugene Kaspersky,” and Eugene himself was a well-known figure. Subsequently, the move with the choice of name completely justified itself.

“My ex-wife Natalya, having decided to save money, suggested calling the company after me, since I was already well known in Russia. In fact, I was categorically against it, but in the end I agreed and I think it was the right decision. Although it greatly reduces privacy. I had to become a kind of “steamboat man.” It's a funny feeling, it's hard to convey. I can’t say that I’ve gotten used to it; I involuntarily shudder when they say my name. I would not like Kaspersky Lab to be considered a company named after one person, although I understand that I play a significant role in it.”

Natalya headed the new enterprise. She took over the post of general director of the laboratory, leaving direct work on the project to her husband. And things went uphill. Already in 1999, the company’s first international representative office opened, and the share of the Russian market owned by Kaspersky Lab increased sharply from 5% to 50%. The quality of the product, round-the-clock support for customers, which was a huge rarity at that time, and many other, smaller but important factors played a role. The former AVP, renamed Kaspersky Anti-Virus, was no longer inferior to its Western competitors.

“Oddly enough, I first felt like a wealthy person in the crisis year of 1998. At that time, we were already 80% an export company, and our partners paid almost in advance to support us. Therefore, unlike many on the market, we felt good and saw a very definite future. Although in fact the pockets were empty. It was then that I realized for the first time that the presence real money In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.”

With the advent of the third millennium, we have come to “ modern history» JSC "Kaspersky Lab". Initially, six people worked at Kaspersky Lab, but gradually it grew to international group companies with a head office in Moscow, ten foreign representative offices and a staff of more than 500 people (today more than 1,500 people work in the Moscow head office of the company alone).

At the beginning of 2002, the Laboratory expanded its scope of activities to protect users not only from viruses, but also from the entire range of information security threats. At the end of the year, users were introduced to the Kaspersky Anti-Hacker personal firewall, designed to protect computer networks or individual nodes from unauthorized access, and the Kaspersky Anti-Spam anti-spam system. In 2003, the Kaspersky Lab team teamed up with the team of developers of the Romanian anti-virus system RAV. In the annual report “Analysis of the anti-virus protection market in Russia 2007-2008” of the Russian independent information and analytical portal Anti-Malware.ru, Kaspersky Lab took a leading position in the Russian market with a sales volume of $60.2 million and a market share of 45 percent

The company's scope of activity has long expanded and now covers not only personal computers, but also workstations, file and mail servers under almost any OS, PDA, etc. Kaspersky Anti-Virus has made a giant leap from the “one of many” category to the category of world leaders.

Kaspersky continues to do what he loves, studying viruses and keeping our computers safe. Today, without a shadow of exaggeration, he is one of the most significant and significant figures in his field. The word “expert” is more than appropriate.

Details of the Kaspersky Lab business

Forbes magazine found the company's IFRS financial statements for 2006-2010, as well as documents on transactions between shareholders, and identified 10 key facts about Kaspersky's business:

STRUCTURE. The parent company of the group is the British Kaspersky Labs Limited (KL), which owns Kaspersky Lab CJSC and distributors in different countries peace. Over the past few years, KL has been pursuing a strategy to acquire distributors. For example, buying your own distributor in Japan cost $120,000, and in America, according to reports, the distributor was bought from one of the directors of KL for only $10.

BUSINESS GROWTH. The company's revenue from 2006 to 2010 increased 8.6 times, to $462 million.

LARGEST MARKETS. Europe - 40%. EEMEA region (countries of Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) - 27%. Northern and South America - 21%.

“Russian software product manufacturers are afraid to enter foreign markets, they are simply afraid. They don’t understand the culture, they don’t understand how to do business. They don't speak English. Their foreign travel ends with Antalya once a year. I've talked to such people. I say: “Guys, the Russian IT and software market is pennies compared to foreign markets.” They say: “Well, yes. But we feel good here too.” This is a dead-end branch of development.”

MONEY. Thanks to its stable cash flow, KL has accumulated nearly $300 million, or nearly six annual profits. Kaspersky's company kept $213 million in bank deposits, and another $80 million in cash.

EXPENSIVE GROWTH OF COSTS. With sales growing by 40% in 2010, the main expense items increased by 1.5-2 times. Here are salaries, marketing with advertising, and even such a line as “travel and entertainment” (an increase of 2.1 times, up to $10 million).

INCENTIVENESS OF EMPLOYEES. One of the reasons for the sharp increase in expenses was the launch in 2010 of a long-term employee incentive plan: the company allocated 5.3 million shares for this in 2010 alone. For the option program, the shares are priced at $8. The company allocates options in tranches - in June 2011, 2012 and 2013. The fair purchase price of the options for each of the tranches was estimated at $1.49 (2011), $2.18 (2012) and $2.7 (2013).

TOP REWARDS. The average number of company directors in 2010 was 7 people. Expenses for their maintenance are $2.78 million (compared to $4.26 million in 2009). The maximum remuneration for a director was $814,000. Salaries and bonuses of top management in 2010 exceeded $16 million (versus $8 million in 2009).

CHARITY. In 2010, KL donated $670,000 to orphanages and hospitals (versus $418,000 in 2009). The reporting emphasizes that the company did not make a single payment to political parties.

DIVIDENTS. In 2009 and 2010, the company paid $10 million in dividends.

SHAREHOLDERS. The appearance of the General Atlantic fund in the list of KL shareholders in 2011 came as a surprise. There was talk on the market that Kaspersky Lab was preparing for an IPO. But a year later, at the beginning of 2012, the company announced that the fund was leaving its co-owners. Having decided to understand the change in the capital structure of KL Forbes, he identified three main phases:

1. End of 2010. KL's capital consists of 95.3 million shares. The largest shareholders are Evgeny Kaspersky (about 57%) and the company Zerosta Holdings, according to our data, controlled by his ex-wife Natalya Kasperskaya (about 23%). Among the co-owners are technical specialists Alexey De-Monderik (over 10%) and Vadim Bogdanov (over 5%), who were at the origins of the company.
2. Beginning of 2011, entry into the capital of General Atlantic. Kasperskaya sells most of its shares (13.3 million out of 22.2 million) to the fund. The amount of the transaction is unknown, but based on transactions within the company at a price of $8 per share, the value of the sold stake can be estimated at about $100 million. In addition, KL issues 5.4 million preferred shares in favor of General Atlantic, which are valued at $75 million .
3. End of 2011, exit of General Atlantic, buyout of shares of other co-owners. The company acquires a stake in General Atlantic for about $200 million, with preferred shares valued at $65 million. At the same time, transactions are taking place with other shareholders. Kasperskaya sells 2.8 million shares for $28.7 million, De Monderic - 2 million ($20.4 million), Evgeniy Buyakin - 1.5 million ($15.3 million) and resigns as executive director Kaspersky Labs, other minority shareholders - about 1 million shares ($10.5 million). Evgeny Kaspersky is also presenting some of his shares - their value is estimated at $62 million. The total amount of the repurchase is $337.6 million. The repurchased shares are redeemed, reducing the capital to 68.2 million shares.

Based on the price of shares and their number until maturity, shareholders estimated the company's value at $1.03 billion.

According to KL documents, Natalia Kasperskaya was supposed to retain a stake in the company. But an official statement from Kaspersky Lab says that Kaspersky is no longer a shareholder. Calculations carried out by Forbes show that the block of shares sold by Evgeniy Kaspersky exactly coincides with the number of shares that should have remained with Kasperskaya. Apparently, the former spouses previously conducted a stock transaction between themselves. Thus, Evgeniy Kaspersky’s share in KL exceeded 79%. Kasperskaya refused to comment on the details of the transactions, only confirming that it had completely withdrawn from the company's capital.

What is the reason for the change in the shareholder structure? The official message from Kaspersky Lab spoke of a revision of its corporate strategy. Kasperskaya, now no longer associated with the company, is critical of KL’s business prospects: “ At one time, I convinced Kaspersky and other shareholders that it was necessary to attract external capital precisely for the purpose of purchasing businesses and technologies in new interesting areas. We even managed to attract an investor, but unfortunately, Kaspersky blocked the idea of ​​development through acquisitions. Honestly, I don’t see drivers of new growth within the company that would give Kaspersky Lab the opportunity to grow organically faster than the market... However, I admit that I could be wrong and the company will find new opportunities for growth in other ways».

Personal life of Evgeny Kaspersky: hobbies and interests, family, everyday life...

Evgeniy loves Formula 1 in general and Scuderia Ferrari in particular. He is interested in kayaking, skiing, mountaineering, and also considers work to be his hobby: “For me, a hobby is a job, and work is a hobby...”.

“Everyday life doesn’t interest me at all. Only a certain level to feel comfortable - nothing more. I hate shopping - after half an hour in the store I get dizzy. I have a wife who, about once a year, makes a preliminary selection of goods, quickly brings me, quickly dresses me and quickly takes me away. I don’t care what kind of car I drive, the main thing is that it drives. I really love the car, I like to spend my holidays behind the wheel.”

One of his main hobbies is travel: both on duty and simply out of love for distant travels, Kaspersky has visited the most different corners the world, from Kamchatka to the South Pole and regularly reports on his travels on the forum of his own Fan Club (kasperskyclub.ru) and on his blog on Live Journal (e-kaspersky.livejournal.com).

“I have compiled a list of the hundred most amazing places on the planet that you must see. I was up until five in the morning - I’m a keen person. I have already seen forty-two places out of a hundred. Moreover, thanks to business trips, which I often combine with tourist expeditions. It is curious that most of the sights that will take your breath away are located in China. From Russia, seven iconic places made it onto my list. This is St. Petersburg, especially in summer, on white nights, Red Square in Moscow, Kuzova Islands in the White Sea, where the energy is completely unreal, Lena Pillars in Yakutia, Altai, Baikal and Kamchatka.”

« I love chopping wood! Although this may seem strange to some, just lying on the beach is a pleasure I don’t understand. It's boring and a waste of time. One of my friends, who lives outside the city, once sent me an e-mail photograph - a pile of logs, and under it the caption: An exclusive type of vacation on fresh air– preparation of firewood. This kind of exclusive vacation is just for me. Just like fishing. A real man's activity. True, I can’t call myself an avid fisherman, but, like any normal man, this process is interesting to me. After all, fishing is, first of all, hunting, and a man is essentially a hunter. I was born in Novorossiysk, and from an early age, one might say, I watched every day how men returned from fishing. And my grandfather, a former journalist, was just a crazy fisherman and spent all his free time doing this activity. So I learned the basic fishing wisdom under his strict guidance. I caught my first fish in Tambov region on the Vorona River. I think it was a pike. But I couldn’t eat it. Just a few minutes ago, she, alive, was fluttering and struggling... Over the years, of course, I have learned to treat the animal world more pragmatically. Once in Estonia, I even specifically went to catch trout so that I could cook and eat it right away. There was a restaurant where every client who wanted to try a fish dish had to catch fish for himself in the pond in the restaurant's courtyard.

It’s another matter when in Karelia I fished in natural natural conditions. When the catch exceeded all the limits of what was necessary, my friends and I declared a moratorium on fishing. And anyone who fished during prohibited hours had to immediately cook and eat the caught fish. Probably, my interest in fishing is not connected with hunting instincts, but with the opportunity to be in nature.»

In 1998, Evgeny Kaspersky divorced his first wife Natalya. Now he is married for the second time and has two sons from his first marriage. The eldest - Maxim, studies at the Faculty of Geography, the youngest - Ivan - at the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, both at Moscow State University.

“I divorced Natalya. Now we are friends and associates. We have a common business, common interests, but different families. When spouses get divorced, they often become bitter enemies. I do not understand this. Natalya and I treat each other with great respect, support each other, much like brother and sister, we have a joint business, we communicate well. Why create problems for yourself and others if you can avoid them? The principle that I declare is that when you leave, people should smile at your back.”

Natalya Kasperskaya about her sons - “The eldest son, Maxim, looks like me. He studies poorly, but is very inquisitive. His favorite book is the encyclopedia. He knows the name of the frog that lives in Australia and burrows two meters into the ground. At the same time, I open his notebook on the Russian language with a shudder. The youngest, Vanya, is a copy of dad. He studies well, is very ambitious, and must be the first in everything.”

Son kidnapping

On April 19, 2011, Ivan Kaspersky was kidnapped near the office of the Infowatch company, owned by his mother, where he worked as a programmer. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of 3 million euros from the Kaspersky family.

As it became known later, law enforcement officers identified the kidnappers of the 20-year-old son of Evgeny and Natalya Kaspersky as the Savelyev family, consisting of the head of the family Nikolai (b. 1949), his wife Lyudmila (b. 1947) and their son Nikolai (b. 1981). R.). In addition to the Savelyev family, the group of kidnappers included two friends of Nikolai Jr., each 29-30 years old. Later it became known that they were talking about Alexey Ustimchuk (captain of the FSO) and Semyon Gromov.

The attackers searched for a potential victim on the Internet to receive a ransom. Their choice fell on Ivan Kaspersky after they discovered his home and work addresses on his VKontakte page.

In an interview, Natalya Kasperskaya said that her son was not tortured and was kept handcuffed and locked in a bathhouse. The kidnappers constantly changed the phone numbers from which they made ransom calls. While law enforcement agencies were busy freeing the young man, she and her husband sat in a separate room on Petrovka and waited for the kidnapper’s call. On the last day, the criminal did not get in touch, and Kaspersky learned that it was all over only after the information appeared in the media.

According to official information from the Central Internal Affairs Directorate, Ivan Kaspersky was released from the hands of the kidnappers only on Sunday, April 24. The kidnappers were given a meeting to hand over the ransom in Moscow, where the entire Savelyev family and one of their accomplices went. The cars in which they were traveling were stopped to check documents, and the attackers were detained. At the same time, another capture group entered the territory of the garden farm where the prisoner was kept. Ivan Kaspersky was discovered in the bathhouse building, where he was guarded by another accomplice of the Savelyev family.

The release was carried out as a result of a force operation by employees of the FSB, MUR and special forces. The operation in the Sergiev Posad area “took place without a single shot being fired.”

“The criminals acted harshly during telephone conversations there were no threats, except for one time when the main attacker said that he did not want to take sin on his soul, which was a signal that, in general, they could take any action.” , Kaspersky said later.

“The crime was real, my son was captured on the street, all his clothes and everything that was with him were taken away, and he was dressed in some kind of robe. He was kept, as far as I know, handcuffed in a dark bathhouse for five days. He didn't even know how many days he spent there. Well, naturally, he has lost weight, so now we are sending him to rest and fatten up." , Kaspersky said on April 27, 2011 in the “Live Broadcast” program on the Russia-1 TV channel.

Later, Evgeny Kaspersky stated that this incident directly affects the image of Russia, which strives to be innovative. Evgeny Kaspersky thanked the intelligence officers and noted their professionalism. “I was truly amazed by the professionalism that I saw in the actions of the workers of Lubyanka and Petrovka. Many thanks to them" , - he said.

Awards, merits and achievements of Evgeniy Kaspersky

• In 2001, he organized the opening of the annual Virus Bulletin conference, a central event in the antivirus industry.
• In 2007, Kaspersky received the Symbol of Science medal.
• On June 4, 2009, Evgeny Kaspersky was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology “for major achievements in the field modern systems protection of computer information."
• On June 12, 2009, Evgeny Kaspersky, as determined by the Council on Science, Technology and Education under the President of Russia, became a laureate of the State Prize in the field of science and technology and received an award of five million rubles. He directed all the funds received to the development of the Moscow specialized physics and mathematics boarding school No. 18 named after A.N. Kolmogorov, where he studied.
• On September 29, 2009, Evgeny Valentinovich Kaspersky received the National Friendship Award of the People's Republic of China for his “contribution to the development of the Chinese information security industry.” And on the same day, he received another friendship award from the Heihe River (a city in Northeast China, located on the banks of the Amur River, opposite the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk) - a sign of honor for foreign specialists who have made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of the city.
• Since 2009, Kaspersky has been a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, and since August 2010, a member of the Advisory Scientific Council of the Skolkovo Innovation Center.
• In 2010, he received the title “Executive of the Year” from SC Magazine Europe and in the same year he entered the ranking for the first time Russian billionaires Finance magazine, where he took 129th place (No. 139 in the ranking of the richest businessmen in Russia 2012).

In December 2012, the American magazine Wired included Evgeniy Kaspersky in the list of the 15 most dangerous people in the world, placing him in eighth place. The first three places in it are occupied by the head of the Iranian special forces, General Qasim Soleimani, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman.

Wired motivated the inclusion of Kaspersky in the rating of “dangerous people” by the work of the “Laboratory” he heads to neutralize the Stuxnet, Flame and Duqu malware, with the help of which industrial and government facilities were attacked in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, as well as his rhetoric in favor of restrictions Internet freedom.

« Recently, the United States waged an online campaign to spy on and counter Iranian nuclear scientists. However, cybersecurity experts exposed each of the Washington projects that used malware, rendering Stuxnet, Flame and Duqu useless. Many of these specialists work for Evgeniy Kaspersky, a Russian computer security mogul who runs one of the largest and most skilled antivirus companies in the world.", wrote Wired.

Flame was discovered in 2012 on hard drives Ministries oil industry Iran, which were transferred to Kaspersky Lab at the request of the UN. Flame operated in Iran and other countries of the Middle East, infecting the computers of government agencies, private companies and ordinary users. Some of Flame's capabilities are amazing. Let's say one of the modules turned on the microphone of the infected computer and secretly recorded everything that happened around it. Another module, using Bluetooth, scanned the space in search of nearby phones, downloading all available information from them. And when opening mail client Flame started taking screenshots every 15 seconds. All stolen data was sent through secret channels to the hackers’ servers. Flame is similar to the Stuxnet and DuQu viruses (discovered in 2010), which were responsible for disabling centrifuges at the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr, which set back the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program several years ago.

Noah Shachtman, who authored the chapter dedicated to Evgeniy Kaspersky in the “list of the most dangerous people,” writes: “ If the only thing Kaspersky did last year was interfere with American efforts to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions, he would already have earned himself a place on the list of the world's most dangerous people, but Kaspersky has other complaints. A longtime ally of Russia's intelligence services, he provides technical expertise for the FSB, the successor to the KGB, whose agents he trains in computer forensics. When Kaspersky's son was kidnapped, the FSB came to his aid».

The second reason for including Kaspersky in the rating was its position on Internet control: “ Kaspersky said there was “too much freedom” on the Internet and supported additional government control over social networks, which he partly blamed for the kidnapping of his son. A few months later in Russia it was adopted new law, which bans many categories of websites and obliges Russian telecom companies to introduce new ways to spy on users. Now Western intelligence agencies are racking their brains over whether Kaspersky experts acted independently when they thwarted the malware attack on Iran, or did they do it with the help of the Kremlin?“- Shachtman is interested.

Why people like Shachtman are surprised by the fact of cooperation between Russian citizens and their government agencies and top officials of the state is unclear. And given the fact that Kaspersky is a senior lieutenant in the Ministry of Defense, the journalists’ claims generally look somewhat ridiculous.

On June 18, 2009, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting of the commission on modernization and technological development of the Russian economy at the Kaspersky Lab office. Evgeny Kaspersky himself also took part in the commission meeting, who made a report to its participants on the topic of Russian software production. The head of the laboratory gave the president a tour, showing the head of state the server room, the “iron room” where antiviruses are tested, as well as the virus laboratory where virus analysts manually catch viruses. The President considered the Laboratory’s office “interesting and modern.”

The biggest guests already in the new office of Kaspersky Lab, which is located in the north-west of Moscow, were the Secretary General of Interpol, comrade Ronald Noble, and the head of the new cyber division of Interpol, Noboru Nakatani, who just yesterday visited Evgeniy Kaspersky on a friendly unofficial visit. Evgeny Valentinovich spoke about this from the pages of his blog (eugene.kaspersky.ru).

Probably, the main secret of Kaspersky’s success can be considered that he madly loves the work he does and considers his work his hobby - “You need to decide at school, somewhere in the middle classes, what is interesting, what really makes your eyes light up, what you would like to do in after school hours. Technology, beekeeping, forestry - whatever. The main thing is that it is yours. I don’t know how else you can feel happy. Option one: be yourself.”

The statements of Evgeniy Kaspersky will reveal the secrets of his success:

“I was lucky - my mother recognized my passion for mathematics when I was still a child. This has shaped my life in many ways. I started studying science seriously at a physics and mathematics school. It was great there. I didn’t want to go back to regular school, so I had to study hard. Then I entered the Academy of Cryptography, where I also had to work really hard so as not to be kicked out. And I worked hard - with passion, it was all terribly interesting to me! Talent is talent, but to achieve success, you need to know the equipment. After school, choose a more challenging educational institution and move on.”

“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, don’t be afraid to experiment, don’t be afraid to work hard! It’s possible that you won’t succeed, it’s possible that circumstances will be stronger than you, but then if you don’t try, you’ll be bitter and offended because you didn’t dare. If you try, you have two options: either it will work or it won’t. And if you don’t do anything, there’s only one option.”

“Today I am a kind of walking brand person. I won’t hide that the meaning of my life is expansion, I want to fill the whole world with my products. I like to conquer new territories. Success turns me on. It’s a completely normal desire for any man.”

"My theory correct behavior: I call it “the rabbit under the tree.” There are two options for behavior: the first is for the rabbit to sit under the tree, [the second] is for the rabbit to run fast. So, if you are sitting under a Christmas tree, you have only one option, someone will find you and fuck you. If you run fast, you have [more] two options: either someone faster will catch up with you and fuck you, or you will find someone sitting under the tree. Here are business secrets from Evgeny Kaspersky" -

“Lee Kuan Yew is the man who built Singapore. He was able to turn into a pearl a state that was in a state of ruin and had the most deplorable appearance. And he achieved this using rather harsh methods. In some situations, harshness is justified, because softness cannot achieve such impressive results. If you are kind, they will sit on your neck and force you to go in the wrong direction. But this is the case with the state. If we talk about the company, everything is more complicated. Neither democracy nor harsh despotism works. We need a golden mean."

Evgeniy Kaspersky is an adherent of a collegial, exclusively democratic leadership style with maximum delegation of powers - “I’ve never been involved in day-to-day management. I don't like this. My task is to indicate the direction to the locomotive, i.e. delegate authority correctly, and ride in front on a white horse with his head held high. Next, the task of the driver and his assistants is to make the locomotive run along the rails along a given path. Success is a locomotive that pulls a cart. And if things go well, there will always be enough coal in the cart for the fire. I have never had any doubt in my life that I was doing the right thing.”

“The opportunity to retire has arisen many times in my life. One day I was offered a move to a higher paying position at another antivirus company. Then there were persistent requests to sell Kaspersky Lab. But why do I need this? The idea is to get rid of the business, acquire desert island, sitting on the shore and throwing coconuts at sharks doesn’t appeal to me.”

“It also comes down to the specifics of our business. No matter how terrible the crisis may be, even when the economy is going badly, no one will give up computers. If your car breaks down, you switch to public transport. If your laptop breaks down, you buy a new one, because you can’t live without a computer. And at the same time, it needs to be protected from viruses and other troubles, otherwise it will sooner or later stop working.”

“My attempts to learn to read e-books ended in failure. I can not. It doesn’t work out - that’s all. I need a paper book, bound, and not a soulless piece of hardware with a touchscreen. I can't help it. It's hard to explain, just like why I don't wear suits and ties or why I've been using the same phone model for years. I'm probably a very conservative person - but not when it comes to technology and business. Name me at least one company that employs top-level experts who are qualified in both the technical field and PR. And that’s exactly what we have.”

“What was dreamed about and what ultimately came true are two big differences. But that doesn't bother me. I'm happy with how everything turned out. Now I am able to finance bold, promising projects that are designed for the long term. I speak from high stands. But there is also another side to the coin. I can’t afford to drop everything and go on vacation from February to June and from September to December, when the hardest time in our business begins.”

“For me, money is the freedom to think more about the future than the present, the freedom to experiment.”

“Do I still have an unfulfilled dream? Of course, not alone. If we talk about business, my dream is for my company to be included in the ranking of the 100 most valuable brands in the world. I want to go to space, go to Antarctica again. The wish list is updated regularly. I believe that if a person has not decided on what what is happiness and stopped dreaming, which means he committed spiritual suicide.”

“Having made a mistake, I admit my guilt. It's easier to live this way. This is generally the most correct thing a leader can do. His authority in the eyes of his subordinates is only growing. After all, the employees already know everything, so why hide the pig in a poke? I'm not afraid to be wrong. If a manager not only evaluates achievements, but also boldly admits mistakes, employees will whisper less behind his back.”

In order to make a brand, it is clearly not enough to simply name the company by your name. Kaspersky Lab set out on a long and difficult voyage and there were many dangers ahead. How did the name Kaspersky become a brand? This is how Evgeniy Valentinovich himself speaks about it:

“It happened very slowly, it took us years to gain a good reputation, first in the Russian and then in the world market. We just always tried to take a responsible approach to personnel search and make products much better than others. This did not always work out, but sometimes it did, and the further it went, the more often. When we started our independent business, our products occupied only 5-10% of the Russian market. Only specialists and experts knew us. Year after year, the company's products and services gained recognition among the masses, and this was different in different countries. In Russia, we were initially known better, and our brand was well received by states close to Russia - the Baltic states, Ukraine, Israel, where 1/6 of the population came from our country. It was difficult to break into the English market due to British conservatism and a very cautious attitude towards new products - it took almost five years of hard work for the Kaspersky brand to begin to be recognized in this market. It was easier in France and Germany; people there are more receptive to new technologies and really value the quality of the product. In the USA and Japan, we are still almost unknown as manufacturers of finished products, although Kaspersky Lab has long been selling its technologies used in programs of local companies in these countries.

At first there was no strategy, they only thought about surviving and tried different ways to enter new markets. The standard strategy that many of our competitors use is: new country The company's office opens, $1 million is invested in advertising campaign, advertising messages appear on the pages of every computer publication. But often this does not work: a year passes, the advertising budget runs out, advertising in the press disappears - and everyone forgets what kind of product it is.

Kaspersky Lab took a different route - from experts to mass users. We first prove the superiority of our technologies to the people who understand them well - the technology partners who embed our functional modules into their products. Then we offer the finished product to other categories of users, and begin working with Internet providers. Through providers, the company reaches small and medium-sized businesses and large corporations, and over time, home users are also connected.

We use standard promotion tools: we organize press conferences, PR tours, promotions, exhibitions, etc. In some cases, we entered the market immediately with a ready-made solution or product - this turned out to be much more difficult than starting with technology licensing. What was missing was not so much money as human resources - in order to conquer the whole world, you need a lot good people. Now we have already penetrated almost all the markets that interest us, and there is no need to invent new strategies.

Kaspersky is, first and foremost, the highest level of anti-virus protection for millions of users around the world. Moreover, its properties extend not only to our finished products, but also to the technologies we license. Kaspersky Lab is an example of a Russian technology company that has managed to build a business from scratch not only in Russia, but also abroad. The brand is based, firstly, on my ability to foresee the situation, because I sometimes guess trends in the virus world, trends in computer threats, and we manage to respond to them in time - faster than others. The second is the ability to come up with technologies that help us catch computer viruses better and faster. Third is the ability to assemble a team. And finally, just luck."

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Evgeniy Valentinovich Kaspersky is a programmer, one of the world's best specialists in protection against malicious software, a leading developer and shareholder of the international group of companies Kaspersky Lab.

Childhood, youth

The future computer genius was born on October 4, 1965 in Novorossiysk (Krasnodar Territory). Evgeniy was the only child in the family. IN school years he was interested in solving complex problems from mathematical magazines. He attended the physics and mathematics school organized at MIPT. He spent the last 2 years of schooling in physics and mathematics boarding school No. 18, operating at Moscow State University. In 1982, he entered the Institute of Cryptography, Communications and Informatics at the Higher Red Banner School of the KGB, where he studied as a mathematics engineer. Graduated in 1987.

Professional activity

1989 - began to study the phenomenon of computer viruses, discovering the “Cascade 1704” virus on his computer. Until 1991, Evgeny Kaspersky worked at the research institute of the USSR Ministry of Defense, where he was assigned. It was then that Kaspersky created his first computer antidote. After that, he began collecting malware, while simultaneously creating healing modules for them. Later, this collection became the basis of the Kaspersky Anti-Virus database. On this moment it has about 4 million records.

1991-1997 – works at the Scientific and Technical Center “KAMI”, where he participates in the development of the anti-virus project “AVP”. In 1994, AVP was tested by the laboratory of the University of Hamburg. The test results showed that this program was in many ways superior to the antiviruses known at that time.

1997 – together with a group of like-minded people, he creates Kaspersky Lab. According to him, the Laboratory still does not have investors and operates at the expense of its own resources. At the same time, all profits are invested in further development. Initially, Kaspersky Lab employed 6 people, over time it turned into an international group of companies with the main office in Moscow, a staff of several hundred people and 10 foreign representative offices.

1999 – the first foreign representative office of Kaspersky Labs UK was opened in Cambridge.

2007 – Evgeniy Valentinovich holds the post of CEO of Kaspersky Lab (initially he served as head of anti-virus research). At the same time, Kaspersky took part in the filming of the series “Network,” which tells the story of Russian hackers.

2009 – received the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology. By decree of D. Medvedev, he is a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

2010 - Member of the Advisory Scientific Council of the Skolkovo Foundation. Named "Executive of the Year" by SC Magazine Europe.

2012 – ranked 40th on the list of the most influential thinkers of the year according to Foreign Policy. At the same time, the American magazine Wired places Kaspersky in 8th position on the list of the most dangerous people in the world. This happened due to the fact that Evgeny Kaspersky managed to expose American cyber weapons created for espionage in the Middle East.

Kaspersky is the author of many articles and reviews on computer virology. In addition, he regularly speaks at specialized conferences and seminars, both Russian and foreign. Kaspersky proposes to eliminate the anonymity of the Internet. In his opinion, the World Wide Web will become less vulnerable when each user is accurately identified. In particular, he calls for allowing Internet connection only after passing an exam, as a result of which the user must receive a special passport. In addition, Kaspersky believes that a special Internet police should be created to control the legality of the actions of network users.

According to Forbes, Kaspersky ranks 139th in the list of “Russia’s Richest Businessmen” for 2012. His fortune is $0.7 billion.

Founder, head of antivirus research and CEO of Kaspersky Lab. Member of the Computer Virus Research Organization (CARO), in 2009 he was included in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Evgeny Valentinovich Kaspersky was born on October 4, 1965 in Novorossiysk. Since childhood, the boy developed an interest in mathematics, which his mother noticed and began buying special books for her son. In 1982, he graduated from the physics and mathematics boarding school No. 18 named after Kolmogorov at Moscow State University. In 1991, Kaspersky completed his studies at the Institute of Cryptography, Communications and Informatics at the KGB Higher School. As a student, in 1989 he began studying computer viruses. After graduation, Kaspersky served in the army and retired to the reserve with the rank of senior lieutenant. His first computer was infected with viruses, one of which Kaspersky decided to save on a floppy disk in order to find out how it worked. Antivirus programs that existed at that time were primitive. Kaspersky studied the virus and wrote his own own program for his treatment. After some time, a colleague brought him a new virus, which he also managed to cure on his own. So he began creating antivirus programs.

Until 1991, Kaspersky worked at the multidisciplinary closed research institute of the General Staff of the Russian Air Force. From 1991 to 1997, he developed an anti-virus project at the Scientific and Technical Center "KAMI". Since 1994, the product, which at that time was called the "-v" program, received the name "AVP" (AntiViral Toolkit Pro). In 1997, Kaspersky and five other people from his team left KAMI and founded their own company, Kaspersky Lab. By that time, the product of the Laboratory, which had become a leader in the development of information security systems in Russia, entered the international market. However, their partner in the US registered the name "AVP" as a trademark and began to position itself as its owner. As a result of the conflict, Kaspersky Lab lost the AVP trademark. In November 2000, the Laboratory officially announced a change in the name and logo of the product, which received a new name - Kaspersky Anti-Virus.

In 1994, Evgeniy Kaspersky’s wife, Natalya, joined KAMI as director of the sales department. In the year of the creation of Kaspersky Lab, she was appointed to the post of CEO. In 1997, the couple divorced, but continued to cooperate, and Natalya successfully promoted her husband’s company in the Russian and international markets. Her achievements included agreements with F-Secure (Finland), G-Data (Germany) and Vintage Solutions (Japan) and the Russian 1C and Polikom Pro. In 1999, the company's first foreign representative office, Kaspersky Labs UK, opened in Cambridge, UK. In 2003, Laboratory opened representative offices in Japan and China.

Kaspersky Lab initially employed six people, but gradually it grew into an international group of companies with a head office in Moscow, ten foreign representative offices and a staff of more than 500 people. At the beginning of 2002, the Laboratory expanded its scope of activities to protect users not only from viruses, but also from the entire range of information security threats. At the end of the year, users were introduced to the Kaspersky Anti-Hacker personal firewall, designed to protect computer networks or individual nodes from unauthorized access, and the Kaspersky Anti-Spam anti-spam system. In 2003, the Kaspersky Lab team teamed up with the team of developers of the Romanian anti-virus system RAV. In the annual report "Analysis of the anti-virus protection market in Russia 2007-2008" of the Russian independent information and analytical portal Anti-Malware.ru, Kaspersky Lab took a leading position in the Russian market with sales of $60.2 million and a market share of 45 percent. In addition, Laboratory announced that it plans to place its shares on the London Stock Exchange. stock exchange in the spring of 2009.

In 2007, Kaspersky, who had previously only been the head of antivirus research, became the CEO of Kaspersky Lab, and his ex-wife was elected to the post of chairman of the board of directors. At that time, Kaspersky owned more than 50 percent of the company’s shares, and Natalya – 30 percent. Kommersant claimed that organizational changes at Kaspersky Lab were associated with a conflict between former spouses: allegedly their opinions about the company’s development strategy differed. After Natalya learned that her powers could be terminated, she organized the removal of important documents from the depository and canceled the second signature of the financial director, thus gaining full control over cash flows. She subsequently stated that the documents in the depository were of no value, and the revocation of the signature was caused by personal reasons. Evgeny Kaspersky refused to comment on this situation. Then Natalya was appointed to the post of CEO of InfoWatch, a subsidiary of Kaspersky Lab, a developer of systems for protecting confidential information from insiders. To get 50 percent plus one share of the company, she fired the general director, Evgeniy Preobrazhensky, and confronted top managers who owned a minority stake with the fact of a possible dilution of their stake during a future additional issue.

In March 2007, the Federal Tax Service (FTS) announced a tender for the supply of anti-virus software. In May, Systematics was declared the winner, offering software from Kaspersky Lab. At the same time, the Laboratory itself participated in this competition. However, in the end, on June 8, 2008, the tender was won by the Russian IT company LETA, which at first was almost excluded from the competition (after it began, the Federal Tax Service announced that the product offered by this company did not meet the conditions of the competition). Kaspersky Lab and Systematics decided to challenge the results of the tender. Kaspersky Lab filed a lawsuit in the Moscow Arbitration Court demanding that the decision of the Federal Tax Service be declared illegal, claiming that the tender for the supply of programs was held with violations, but the Laboratory lost the claim.

In September 2009, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, by decree, appointed Kaspersky as a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Kaspersky is a member of the Computer Virus Research Organization (CARO), which brings together the most prominent experts in the field. He is the author of a large number of articles and reviews on the problem of computer virology, and regularly speaks at specialized seminars and conferences in Russia and abroad. In 2007, Kaspersky was awarded the Symbol of Science medal. Kaspersky Lab became the winner of the Runet Prize 2007 for its contribution to the development of the Russian segment of the Internet in the Technology and Innovation category. In 2009, “for achievements in the fight against computer viruses, as well as achievements in the field of modern computer information protection systems,” Kaspersky became a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology.

In 2007, the series “Network” was filmed, telling the story of Russian hackers, in which Kaspersky made his debut as an actor. He also starred in a video prepared by Kaspersky Lab for the company’s 10th anniversary global partner conference.

Evgeny Kaspersky is married for the second time and has two sons from his first marriage, who study at Moscow State University. His hobbies include kayaking, skiing and mountaineering.

(1965-10-04 ) (53 years old)

early years

Evgeny Kaspersky was born on October 4, 1965, the only child in the family. He began his studies at secondary school No. 3 named after Gastello in the town of Dolgoprudny near Moscow. While still at school, Kaspersky began an in-depth study of mathematics as part of a special course. After winning the Mathematical Olympiad in 1980, he was enrolled and in 1982 graduated from Physics and Mathematics Boarding School No. 18 named after A. N. Kolmogorov at Moscow State University.

In 1987, he graduated from the 4th (technical) faculty of the KGB Higher School (now the faculty is known as the Academy of the FSB of Russia) in Moscow, where he studied mathematics, cryptography and computer technology, and received the specialty “mathematical engineer”.

Career

In 1987, Evgeny Kaspersky began working at a multidisciplinary research institute under the USSR Ministry of Defense. It was here that he began studying computer viruses after encountering the Cascade virus in 1989. After analyzing the virus code, Evgeniy developed a special utility to treat it and became interested in this topic.

In 1991, Evgeny Kaspersky began working at the KAMI Information Technology Center, where he headed a small group of specialists developing anti-virus solutions.

In November 1992, the group released its first full-fledged product - AVP 1.0. In 1994 it won a comparative test carried out by the test laboratory of the University of Hamburg. This provided the product with international fame, and developers began to license their technologies to foreign IT companies.

In 1997, Kaspersky and his colleagues decided to create their own company, acting as co-founders of Kaspersky Lab. Evgeniy did not want his last name to appear in the name of the company, but Natalya Kasperskaya, Evgeniy’s wife at that time, who was also one of the co-founders of the Laboratory, convinced him. In November 2000, the AVP product was renamed Kaspersky Anti-Virus.

Kaspersky led anti-virus research at the company from its founding until 2007, when he took over as CEO of Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky's office is located in a new business center on Leningradskoye Shosse. Evgeny Kaspersky's office is located on the same floor with the company's leading developers and analysts, next to Kaspersky Lab's Global Research Center (GReAT). Evgeniy is a co-author of several patents in the field of information security, including a patent for a restrictive attribute security system that controls the interaction of software components. This patent was issued for the technology underlying the secure operating system currently being developed by Kaspersky Lab.

Today, Kaspersky is one of the world's leading experts in the field of virus protection. He is the author of a large number of articles and reviews on the problem of computer virology, and regularly speaks at specialized seminars and conferences in Russia and abroad. Kaspersky is a member of the Computer Virus Research Organization (CARO), which brings together experts in the field.

Kaspersky is the founder of the Virus Bulletin conference, which has been held annually by the antivirus industry since 2001.

In 2012, Kaspersky was included in the ranking of the 100 most influential thinkers of the year according to Foreign Policy magazine and took 40th place, losing among representatives of Russia to the punk group Pussy Riot, which took 16th place in the ranking.

In December 2012, the American magazine Wired placed Kaspersky in 8th place on its list of “the most dangerous people in the world” - for exposing American cyber weapons created for espionage in the Middle East and disrupting the Iranian nuclear program.

Evgeniy feels like a man who is on the front line in the war against cybercriminals. The “laboratory,” according to Kaspersky, has no investors, operates exclusively at the expense of its own resources, and invests all profits in further development.

During his travels around the world, Evgeniy Kaspersky regularly gives reports on the dangers of cyber warfare and the need to counter the escalation of cyber threats at the global level. He views cybersecurity education as key to successfully combating cyber threats. This applies to both ordinary users and IT security specialists, who often lack qualifications. Evgeniy also actively supports the idea of ​​universal standardization and the adoption of uniform policies in the field of cybersecurity, as well as the idea of ​​​​cooperation between government agencies and companies operating in the IT security industry.

“Private companies - especially in the IT and security industries, as well as in some strategically important industries for which IT security is a top priority - have accumulated a wealth of practical experience in combating cyber threats, which the government could use extremely successfully.”

Evgeny Kaspersky supports the idea of ​​using Internet passports when performing critical operations in global network: when voting in elections, working in online banking systems, receiving public services etc.

“It seems to me that the Internet space needs to be divided into three zones. “Red” zone - for those processes where safety is critical; here the use of an Internet passport is mandatory. In the “yellow” zone, authorization requirements are lower - it is necessary, for example, to verify the age of the buyer in online stores selling alcohol or offering products for adults. And finally, the “green” zone: blogs, social networks, news sites, chats - everything that has to do with freedom of speech. No authorization is required here."

According to Kaspersky, the main vulnerability of the Internet is its anonymity. Therefore, in order to make the World Wide Web less vulnerable, each user should be accurately identified. Kaspersky offers to allow connection to the network only after receiving a special passport and passing an exam, similar to a driver’s license. And to monitor compliance with the law on the Internet, a special Internet police (Internet Interpol) should be created. “Everyone is required to have an ID or an Internet passport,” Evgeny Kaspersky told ZDNet Asia while attending an Interpol conference in Singapore. - The Internet was originally developed not for public use, but for scientists and the US military. Only then was it presented to the public, and it turned out to be a mistake... to present it the way it was done.” At the same time, Kaspersky is convinced that new system must be purely coercive and all countries must obey it. “If any country disagrees or ignores the agreement, just cut off their Internet,” he said. Evgeny Kaspersky has been making a proposal to escape anonymity on the Internet for several years [ When?], but only now [ When?] his ideas attracted the attention of the Western press. Considers it necessary to introduce criminal penalties for spam.

It is characterized in the press as “the menace of computer crime.”

Family and hobbies

State

With the exception of Kaspersky Lab shares, Evgeniy does not have significant investments: “I have a company, an apartment in Moscow and a BMW car. But other than that I have nothing else.”

Books

Written by Evgeny Kaspersky:

Biography:

• Vladislav Dorofeev, Tatyana Kostyleva. Kaspersky principle: bodyguard of the Internet. - M.: Eksmo, 2011.

Awards

In 2012, Evgeny Kaspersky was awarded an honorary doctorate of science. University of Plymouth en. That same year, he was included in the Top 25 Innovators of the Year ranking by CRN.

Awards and prizes:

see also

Notes

1. IT personality: Evgeniy Kaspersky. Competent look. Review. Dailycomm.ru (undefined) . www.dailycomm.ru. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
2. Kaspersky Evgeniy Valentinovich(English) . Forbes.ru (April 15, 2011). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
3. Official page of Evgeny Kaspersky on the social network “VKontakte”
4. Dmitry Vinogradov. Figure: Evgeniy Kaspersky: I am fighting global malice (Russian). Russian reporter. rusrep.ru (August 27, 2008). Retrieved December 23, 2012. Archived December 25, 2012.
5. Vladislav Yuryevich Dorofeev, Tatyana Petrovna Kostyleva. Chapter 1, White Target Pebbles// Kaspersky principle: bodyguard of the Internet. - M.: Eksmo, 2011. - 332 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-49120-9.
6. Kiwi Bird. Believe it or not (undefined) . Home Computer magazine (April 4, 2008). Retrieved August 14, 2015. Archived August 13, 2009.
7. Kaspersky: antivirus was my hobby (Russian). RIA Novosti (20120712T1754+0400Z). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
8. The secret of Evgeny Kaspersky (Russian). www.elle.ru. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
9. Sergey Villanov. Report from Evgeniy Kaspersky's office (undefined) . Digital World Magazine. dgl.ru (August 28, 2013). Retrieved August 29, 2013.
10. ininventor:"Eugene V. Kaspersky" - Google Search (undefined) . www.google.com. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
11. In the hundred thinkers of the year, Pussy Riot is ahead of Kaspersky and Navalny (undefined) . Forbes. forbes.ru (November 26, 2012). Retrieved November 27, 2012. Archived November 29, 2012.
12. Noah Shachtman. The 15 Most Dangerous People in the World(English) . Wired. wired.com (19 December 2012). Retrieved December 20, 2012. Archived December 23, 2012.
13. Andrey Sidorchik. Extremely dangerous. Kaspersky is included in the list of the world's main villains (undefined) . AiF. aif.ru (December 25, 2012). Retrieved December 26, 2012. Archived December 27, 2012.
14. Carol Matlack; Michael Riley, Jordan Robertson. The Company Securing Your Internet Has Close Ties to Russian Spies(English) . Bloomberg Television (19 March 2015). Retrieved August 14, 2015. Archived March 20, 2015.
15. Andrey Kuznetsov. Bloomberg spoke about Kaspersky's connections with Russian intelligence services (undefined) . RBC (March 19, 2015). Retrieved August 14, 2015. Archived March 19, 2015.
16. Kaspersky responded to the publication about connections with intelligence agencies (undefined) . Forbes (March 20, 2015). Retrieved August 14, 2015. Archived May 9, 2015.
17. Vladislav Novy. If they "bring down" a region, city or country as a whole - goodbye (undefined) . Kommersant. kommersant.ru (March 28, 2013). Retrieved September 15, 2013.
18. Silicon UK | Technology & Business News(undefined) . Silicon UK. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
19. Kramer, Andrew E.. Cyberweapon Warning From Kaspersky, a Computer Security Expert (English) , The New York Times(June 3, 2012). Retrieved December 28, 2018.
20. Kaspersky Warns UK Government Of ‘Catastrophic’ Cyber ​​Attack
21. Interviews: Eugene Kaspersky Answers Your Questions - Slashdot
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Kaspersky Evgeniy Valentinovich is not only the richest businessman with a personal fortune of $1.1 billion according to 2016 data. From his biography we learn about him as a scientist, researcher, talented strategist and simply an extraordinary person.

 

Smart, interesting and... for some even dangerous - all these are synonyms for the name Kaspersky Evgeniy Valentinovich. The most famous Russian programmer, who became the Laureate of the State Prize in the field of science and technology and a world expert in the field of computer and information security, this man has already made his name a household name. This year it will be 20 years since Evgeniy and his team saved the world from cyber threats. Businessman Kaspersky, of course, is mostly famous for his anti-virus programs, but it is the story of the formation of a personality who is not afraid of falls and unexpected turns of fate that deserves a separate story.

How it all began

The biography dates back to October 4, 1965 - on this day in Novorossiysk Krasnodar region and a future computer genius appeared. Young Zhenya developed an interest in mathematics as a child - fortunately, his mother noticed this and tried in every possible way to support him in her son. So the talented boy ended up in physics and mathematics school No. 18, named after Academician Kolmogorov.

The educational institution was located at Moscow State University, but the graduate chose another alma mater - the Institute of Cryptography, Communications and Informatics, which was located at the KGB Higher School. This is where he became interested in cyberattacks. A little later, a fateful “meeting” between young Kaspersky and his... first virus happened: malware The computer was infected. But instead of destroying the uninvited guest, Evgeniy recorded the virus on a floppy disk and began to study it in detail - as a result, he was able to write a program to treat it. A little later, another new virus was planted on Kaspersky by a colleague - again, our hero neutralized the dangerous “hijacker” on his own. These cases prompted the future luminary of IT security to engage in antivirus programs.

Birth of Kaspersky Lab

Initially, Evgeniy planned a career in the military sphere: after college he served in the army, from where he left as a senior lieutenant, and in 1991 he began working at a closed research institute under the General Staff of the Russian Air Force.

It was there that he began to develop his first antivirus-related project. 1994 was marked by the creation of a product called AVP (AntiViral Toolkit Pro), which began to rapidly gain popularity. Within three years, AVP became a leader in the field of security-related information systems, and Kaspersky himself, together with a team of five people, set out on his own, establishing his famous “Laboratory.” At the same time, the antivirus product entered the world market. And here the first trouble awaited him.

The American partner of the Laboratory decided to play by its own rules, registering AVP under its own name trademark. This made it possible to position him as the owner of the development. Nothing helped - the conflict led to the loss of AVP. But this unpleasant situation became the impetus for the creation of a new well-known product, Kaspersky Anti-Virus.

Full speed ahead!

As we remember, initially Kaspersky Lab JSC was founded by a group of six people, but over the course of several years the organization has grown into a group consisting of international companies, whose head office is located in Moscow.

The field of activity itself has changed: consumers were offered not only anti-virus protection, but also the company’s well-thought-out information security functionality. We are talking about Kaspersky Anti-Hacker (personal firewall), an anti-spam system and other unique “guardians” of data.

The development of the structure proceeded by leaps and bounds:

• The year 2003 was symbolized by the merger with Romanian partners involved in RAV antivirus programs.
• In 2007-2008, the company's turnover increased to $60.2 million, which has since provided it with a strong leading position in the market.

The special role of the first wife in business

The name of Evgeniy’s first wife, Natalya, is closely associated with the activities of Kaspersky Lab. She became the first general director of the organization - such cooperation continued even after the divorce. Her tasks included promoting the company both domestically and on the international market - and Natalya coped with this brilliantly. Agreements with Finnish, German and Japanese partners were the merit of Evgeniy’s first wife. By the way, in the Russian Federation itself, with Natalya’s help, close ties were also established with 1C and Polik Pro.

A little more history: the first foreign representative office was opened in 1999 in

Great Britain, in Cambridge, and in 2003 similar happy event happened in China and Japan.

However, intra-family misunderstandings still affected inner life companies. Ex-spouses tried to keep going through the organization cash flows in her own hands: Natalya tried to take possession of the same share in the company that her husband had. All this continued until Natalya was appointed to the post of CEO in the subsidiary organization InfoWatch (the company is also involved in development, but in this case we are talking about protecting confidential information from insiders).

Extremely dangerous?

If they made another film with the same name, then Evgeniy Valentinovich could well have played in it main role(or act as a prototype). And it’s all about the new title - Kaspersky is included in the list of the most dangerous people in the world according to the American magazine Wired dated December 2012.

An honorable eighth place in this “hit parade” (where there are only 15 places) was given to the Russian programmer by his work aimed at neutralizing Stuxnet, Flame and Duqu - projects with the help of which it was planned to attack large Iranian government and industrial facilities.

It is believed that the specialists who exposed spyware viruses worked for the famous Kaspersky. But from the point of view of American journalists, this is not all: it is believed that Evgeniy works in the interests of the FSB and his team is engaged in technical training intelligence services, providing assistance in forensic matters.

It is known that with the help of the Kaspersky team, 160 hackers speaking Russian were arrested in just three years (2012-2015). For reference, the damage caused by these cyberterrorists is estimated at $790 million.

Many are unhappy that Evgeniy advocates control in the Internet area: Kaspersky believes that there is a lot of freedom there. He especially strongly advocates for control over social networks. And, by the way, his statements do not go unheard - in Russia some web resources are already restricted for visiting. Most likely, at the instigation of our hero, who has been a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation since 2009 (became such by decree of Dmitry Medvedev, who was president at that time).

By the way, about cinema: Kaspersky has already made his debut there too - we are talking about the series “Network”. You can also add a role in a video from “Laboratory” to your “acting” resume, which was prepared for the tenth anniversary global conference that the company is holding for partners.

This is not all the regalia: Evgeniy participates in scientific research related to computer virology (he is part of CARO). Our hero is happy to share his knowledge: he participates in events dedicated to the problem, and writes a lot of scientific materials on the topic.

Evgeniy’s contribution is often recognized with awards: in 2007, the medal “Symbol of Science” became one (in the same year the “Laboratory” itself was the laureate of the “Runet Prize” in the category “Technology and Innovation”). And in 2009, Kaspersky himself was a laureate of the Russian State Prize in the field of science and technology.

Recent research includes the development of a secure operating system. Today, neither Microsoft, nor Apple, nor other communities have this. This system is planned for use in highly specialized (usually “industrial”) purposes; with it it will be impossible to win games and surf in in social networks. This software will perform the strictly prescribed functionality. Therefore, such a thing cannot be hacked using third-party code or impact the system or program.

Details of the technology have not yet been disclosed so that competitors do not find out about it in advance. Some things, as Kaspersky himself states, will remain in closed access (confidential for customers) - this is necessary to protect against cyber-terrorists.

Tourist on a kayak

For all his busyness, Evgeny bears little resemblance to “office plankton” - this is especially noticeable on the Kaspersky Blog. And the programmer himself admits that his passion is kayaking and mountaineering. He was lucky enough to visit many beautiful corners of the planet: for example, Evgeniy loves climbing… volcanoes.

Sports are also interesting - Evgeniy Valentinovich Kaspersky acts as a sponsor in Formula 1 racing, supporting the Scuderia Ferrari team. Another wards are Australian rugby players.

The company is involved in charity work: for example, after the Japanese tsunami, $1.5 million was donated to orphanages, hospitals and the Japanese Red Cross.

Everything is “excellent” in my personal life!

This is precisely the assessment that can be given to today’s marital relations of Evgeniy Valentinovich. He is married for the second time, and met his future wife while skiing. The wife fully corresponds to all the businessman’s ideas about women, embodying intelligence and delicacy of character. She is a worker in the humanitarian sphere - the Russian Language Institute. A.S. Pushkin.

Preserved a good relationship With ex-wife Natalya (part-time co-founder of the Laboratory) and sons Maxim and Ivan. And so good that families often vacation together, each with his own new family.

As for children, Maxim, the eldest son of a computer genius, did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps - he chose the Faculty of Geography of Moscow State University. And the younger Ivan has a not-so-good kidnapping story: criminals grabbed a child near the metro and demanded a ransom of 3 million rubles. However, thanks to a special operation carried out jointly with the FBI, the criminals were caught and punished.

Apart from this unpleasant episode, the life of our hero is somewhat reminiscent of an interesting kaleidoscope: you never know what interesting event will turn out next. One thing is clear: it will definitely be extraordinary, just like Evgeniy Valentinovich Kaspersky himself, whose biography will be replenished with worthy discoveries and bright moments.