Eugene Kaspersky facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Eugene Kaspersky
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| Евгений Касперский | |
Kaspersky in 2018
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Yevgeny Valentinovich Kaspersky
4 October 1965 Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Krai, Russian SFSR
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| Nationality | Russian |
| Alma mater | IKSI |
| Occupation | Chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab |
| Known for | Founder of Kaspersky Lab |
| Spouse(s) | • Natalya Kaspersky (1986—1998) |
| Children | Maxim (b. 1989) Ivan (b. 1991) |
| Awards |
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Yevgeny Valentinovich Kaspersky (born October 4, 1965) is a Russian expert in cybersecurity. He is the CEO of Kaspersky Lab, a big company that helps keep computers and networks safe from digital threats. He started Kaspersky Lab in 1997. He also helped find out about digital attacks that governments were doing. He believes there should be a worldwide agreement to stop countries from using cyberattacks against each other.
Kaspersky finished his studies in 1987 with a degree in computer technology. He became interested in computer security in 1989. This happened when a computer he was using got a virus called Cascade virus. He then created a program to remove it. Kaspersky helped his company grow by doing a lot of research and selling their security products. He became the CEO in 2007 and still leads the company today.
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Early Life and Education
Yevgeny Kaspersky was born on October 4, 1965, in a city called Novorossiysk in the Soviet Union. When he was nine, his family moved closer to Moscow. His dad was an engineer, and his mom worked with historical records.
From a young age, Yevgeny loved math and technology. He spent his free time reading math books. When he was 14, he won second place in a math contest. At that age, he also started going to a special boarding school run by Moscow University. This school focused on math.
At 16, Kaspersky joined a five-year program at a technical school. He graduated in 1987 with a degree in computer technology. After college, he worked as a software engineer for the Soviet military.
Starting Kaspersky Lab
The Beginning of an Idea
Kaspersky's interest in computer security started in 1989. He was working for the Ministry of Defence when his computer got infected by the Cascade virus. He studied how the virus worked and then created a program to get rid of it. After this, he kept finding new viruses and made software to remove them as a hobby. At first, his antivirus software was very simple. It could only find about 40 viruses and he mostly shared it with friends.
In 1991, Kaspersky left his military service. He took a job at a private company called KAMI. This allowed him to work on his antivirus software all the time. There, he and his friends made the software better. In 1992, they released it as a product called Antiviral Toolkit Pro. In the beginning, only about ten customers bought the software each month. They earned about $100 a month, mostly from companies in Ukraine and Russia.
Growing the Company
In 1994, a university in Germany tested many antivirus programs. Kaspersky's software won first place! This helped him get more customers from Europe and America.
Kaspersky Lab was officially started three years later in 1997. Yevgeny, his wife Natalya, and their friend Alexey De-Monderik founded it. Natalya was the CEO, and Yevgeny was in charge of research.
The next year, a very bad virus called the CIH virus (also known as the Chernobyl virus) appeared. Kaspersky said his software was the only one that could clean this virus at the time. This helped his company a lot. Wired magazine said their software was "advanced for the time." For example, it was the first software to put viruses in a safe, separate area called a quarantine.
Kaspersky's company grew quickly in the late 1990s. By 2000, almost 60% of their money came from outside Russia. The company grew from 13 people in 1997 to 65 people by 2000. In 2000, their antivirus product was renamed Kaspersky Antivirus.
Finding New Threats
As the head of research, Kaspersky wrote articles about viruses. He also went to conferences to tell people about his software. He was often asked by technology news reporters for his opinion on computer viruses.
He helped create the company's Global Research and Expert Analysis Team (GReAT). This team helps companies and governments investigate computer security threats. At first, he told his team not to talk about cyber-terrorism in public. He worried it might give governments ideas for digital attacks. But after the movie Live Free or Die Hard came out in 2007, Kaspersky said the idea was already public.
His company became known for finding serious cybersecurity threats. They found the Stuxnet worm, which was thought to be the first digital weapon made by a government. Later, they found the Flame virus. This virus was believed to be used for digital spying in the Middle East.
In 2015, Kaspersky and his team found a group of hackers called Carbanak. These hackers were stealing money from banks. They also found Equation Group, which made advanced spying software. This group was believed to be connected to the National Security Agency in the U.S. These discoveries, along with Kaspersky's strong sales skills and good antivirus product, made Kaspersky Lab a well-known Russian company around the world.
Leading the Company
Kaspersky became the CEO of Kaspersky Lab in 2007. He traveled to many countries each year to promote his company's products. In 2009, a magazine called CRN said his personality helped the company grow from being little-known to competing with much bigger companies. At that time, Kaspersky Lab was the fourth largest company for protecting computers.
In 2011, Kaspersky decided not to make his company public on the stock market. He said it would make decisions slow and stop them from investing in new research.
Kaspersky Lab has also fought against unfair patent lawsuits. In 2012, a company called IPAC sued Kaspersky and 34 other companies. IPAC was a "patent troll" – a company that buys patents just to sue others for money. Kaspersky Lab was the only company that fought the case in court instead of paying a fee. Kaspersky won the case. Another company, Lodsys, also sued Kaspersky, but they dropped the case. Kaspersky has called patent trolls "parasites" and "IT racketeers" on his blog.
Kaspersky himself has helped create several patents for computer security systems. By 2015, Kaspersky Lab had over 2,800 employees. Kaspersky has also worked on creating software to protect important systems like power plants from cyberwarfare.
His Ideas on Internet Security
Kaspersky is an important voice among politicians and security experts. He has warned about the danger of cyberwarfare, especially attacks on important systems like power plants. He often speaks at conferences, suggesting that countries should agree on a treaty to ban government-sponsored cyberattacks.
After the Stuxnet attack, Kaspersky suggested that the Internet needs more rules and policing. He thought that some parts of the Internet should stay private, but other more secure areas should require people to show who they are. He believed that being completely anonymous online mostly helps cybercriminals. For example, he suggested that to get into a nuclear power plant network, you might need to prove your identity with a digital passport.
Kaspersky has also talked about dividing the Internet into three zones:
- A red zone for important things like voting or online banking. This zone would need an "Internet ID" to prove who you are.
- A grey zone that might only need you to prove your age, but not your full identity.
- A green zone for things like blogs and news, where you can speak freely without needing to show your identity.
He suggests that for red zone websites, special systems could be used. These systems would only reveal your identity if you were suspected of doing something bad.
Achievements and Personal Life
In 2017, Forbes magazine listed Kaspersky as one of the world's billionaires. His wealth was estimated at $1.3 billion. He first joined this list in 2015.
Kaspersky has received many awards, including:
- National Friendship Award of China
- CEO of the Year, SC Magazine Europe - 2010
- Lifetime Achievement Award, Virus Bulletin - 2010
- Technology Hero of the Year, V3 - 2012
- Top-100 Global Thinker, Foreign Policy Magazine - 2012
Kaspersky lives in Moscow, Russia. He enjoys racing and drives his sports cars on race tracks as a hobby. He also supports interesting projects, like the Ferrari Formula One racing team and old city digs in Akrotiri (prehistoric city). He owns a BMW M3. He has hiked on volcanoes in Russia and even booked a trip to space with Virgin Galactic. He travels a lot and writes about his adventures on his personal blog. He also likes photography.
Kaspersky is known for dressing casually, usually in jeans and a shirt. He also supports university projects and competitions in computer security.
Images for kids
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A friendly robot, representing technology and security.
See also
In Spanish: Yevgueni Kasperski para niños
