Internet security provider Kaspersky Labs have planned to build a data center in Switzerland following the allegations of leaking private data to the Russian state. With this move, Kaspersky aims to align themselves with international community standards by facilitating transparency at the Swiss facility.
According to Kaspersky Labs, the accusations claiming that they are spying for the Russian state have tarnished their image. They also say that these claims have no proof but the concerns regarding data protection need to be addressed.
In order to respond to these allegations, Kaspersky say that they will be transferring data of their European, North American, Singaporean, South Korean and Japanese clients to their Swiss data center. They also say that they chose Switzerland over other regions since it is known for tough data privacy regulations.
With this move, Kaspersky say that they want to show their clients and their accusers that they take privacy and data security seriously. They also added that Kaspersky will be relocating some of their best programmers to Switzerland to ensure that they meet high security standards.
Speaking about this launch, Eugene Kaspersky, Co-founder and CEO at Kaspersky Labs, commented:
In a rapidly changing industry such as ours we have to adapt to the evolving needs of our clients, stakeholders and partners. Transparency is one such need, and that is why we’ve decided to redesign our infrastructure and move our data processing facilities to Switzerland.
We believe such action will become a global trend for cybersecurity, and that a policy of trust will catch on across the industry as a key basic requirement.
Industry experts claim that the company has been collecting sensitive data on behalf of the Russian state knowingly or unknowingly, something which is not yet proven. However, it will be interesting to see how Kaspersky Labs bounce back from this ordeal.