In a surprising turn of events, Israel hackers ended up catching American spies being hacked by Russian spies. The discovery occurred while the Israelite hackers were successfully hacking Kaspersky, a popular internet security software. If this isn’t confusing enough for you, just wait because the tale only goes deeper.
At first glance, it would seem Kaspersky was a victim in this cyber scandal but that is so far from the suspected truth. Instead, Kaspersky was possibly actively playing the most evil of all the roles: helping American spies, who are directly employed by the U.S. Federal government, to use their system to spy on the users themselves.
That’s right: the very software meant to protect you and your privacy was said to be allowing government entities to illegally spy on those using the software. Or at least that is what it seems to look like. Several official statements from all parties have denied any wrongdoing including Kaspersky as they continue to claim their innocence in the matter.
While this event originally occurred in 2015, for one reason or another, has only just now surfaced in the public forum for us “regular” folks to read about. Nothing about hacking, spying or government entities and their questionable tactics is new including the smokescreens surrounding them every time a new story surfaces.
Between all of the twists and turns, denials and statements, we are left with having to judge the event for ourselves. But, of course, it would be wise to accept the fact early on that a straight answer will never be given, not to the general public at least.
In the end, our need for a trusted internet security provider is absolutely necessary and for that trust to be compromised is nothing short of terrifying. We need to seriously strengthen our security online in the upcoming months in order to avoid the threats that lurk online.