government agencies phased out their use of Kaspersky software. Kaspersky criticized Bloomberg's coverage on his blog, calling the coverage sensationalist and guilty of exploiting paranoia to increase readership. Some of these people actively aid criminal investigations by the FSB, the KGB’s successor, using data from some of the 400 million customers". In August 2015, Bloomberg News reported that Kaspersky Lab changed course in 2012, as " high-level managers have left or been fired, their jobs often filled by people with closer ties to Russia's military or intelligence services. The company has denied that it has direct ties with or has engaged with the Russian government. Analysts such as Gartner's Peter Firstbrook say suspicions about the firm’s Russian roots have hindered its expansion in the US. but there is still a concern that you can’t operate in Russia without being controlled by the ruling party." CEO Eugene Kaspersky's prior work for the Russian military and his education at a KGB-sponsored technical college has led to allegations of being employed by Russia to expose US cyberweapons, though he denies this.
The company has since announced commitments to increased accountability, such as soliciting independent reviews and verification of its software's source code, and announcing that it would migrate some of its core infrastructure for foreign customers from Russia to Switzerland. Kaspersky denied the allegations, stating that the software had detected Equation Group malware samples which it uploaded to its servers for analysis in its normal course of operation. In October 2017, subsequent reports alleged that hackers working for the Russian government stole confidential data from the home computer of a National Security Agency contractor in 2015 via Kaspersky antivirus software. Department of Homeland Security banned Kaspersky products from all government departments on 13 September 2017, alleging that Kaspersky Lab had worked on secret projects with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). The company Kaspersky Lab has faced controversy over allegations that it has engaged with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)-ties which the company has actively denied.