If you’ve been using computers for a while, there’s a chance you may have heard of Kaspersky Labs. Kaspersky is a cyber security suite that’s been seeing a significant amount of use recently among those who refuse to use some of the more mainstream antivirus tools, and has become trusted by many in the cyber security scene as a competent defense against cyber criminals. Kaspersky Labs’ Eugene Kaspersky put out a blog post recently calling out Microsoft for “slowly killing off the independent security industry”. In the blog post, he announced that he’s seeking legal action against Microsoft for anti-competitive behavior.
Kaspersky frequently cited that he imagines himself to be “David,” where big companies like Microsoft are “Goliath.” He paints the picture of Microsoft as engaging in a devious plot to make the world safer for cyber criminals by deactivating competing anti-virus software and replacing it with Windows Defender.
We’ve taken the decision to address official bodies in various countries (including the EU and Russia) with a request to oblige Microsoft to cease its violation of anti-competition legislation and to remove the consequences of that violation.
Specifically:
To oblige Microsoft (i) to provide new versions and updates of Windows to independent developers in good time so they can maintain compatibility of their software to Windows; (ii) explicitly inform the user of the presence of incompatible software before upgrading Windows and recommend the user to install a compatible version of the software after the upgrade; (iii) always explicitly ask the user for his/her approval to enable Windows Defender.
We’ll see if this complaint ends up getting any sort of response from Microsoft, or if it makes any sort of impact at all. Kaspersky seems fairly convinced that Microsoft’s policies regarding anti virus are malicious towards independent cyber security developers, so there’s no question that he’s going to be trying his hardest to pursue this further somehow.
