Kaspersky Lab makes life easier for partners with transparency plans

Kaspersky Labs has been taking steps to negate questions that resellers might face from customers around its Russian heritage and questions of trust.

The decision by the vendor, as part of its Global Transparency Initiative, to move a number of core processes from Russia last year to the famously neutral Switzerland and Zurich, was part one the campaign to dispell concerns and it has followed that up a further centre in Madrid.

The transparency centre will help meet the demand the firm has been getting from customers for more education around how the firm is being transparent and processing data. Further centres will be opened in Asia and North America by 2020.

“We see that businesses are most concerned about sensitive questions relating to data management processes – how data is stored and processed, and what the company does to keep users’ data safe. To meet those needs, we decided to open an additional Transparency Centre where European clients, governments and regulators can receive answers to all their questions,” said Anton Shingarev, vice-president for public affairs at Kaspersky Lab.

At the same time the firm has voluntarily used third-party legal assessment to evaluate the obligations the firm has to meet in line with Russian legislation. The results are online for channel partners to read and share

“We understand that in the current geopolitical climate, when different countries create very different laws related to data processing, some of our partners and clients need as much information as possible in order to make the best possible choice of cybersecurity products and services. We are happy to provide them with such information because this is what the Global Transparency Initiative was originally created for. We are also happy to continue to extend the scope of the initiative and increase the number of measures supporting it," added Shingarev.