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 cybersecurity 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 made 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 to provide new versions and updates of Windows to independent developers in good time so they can maintain compatibility of their software to Windows; 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; always explicitly ask the user for his/her approval to enable Windows Defender.
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.
source:winbeta
