Natalya Kaspersky's Snoop-Proof Phone Helps Putin Thwart Spies
Natalya Kaspersky's Snoop-Proof Phone Helps Putin Thwart
Spies
Taiga smartphone prevents spying by apps such as Google
Designer InfoWatch bets on demand from companies, agencies
By Ilya Khrennikov September 25, 2017, 2:02 AM PDT
A Russian security company run by Kaspersky Lab’s
co-founder is introducing a smartphone that prevents Google and other apps from
snooping on users, seeking to capitalize on the country’s tensions with the
U.S.
The Taiga phone, designed by Moscow-based InfoWatch Group
and named after desolated forests in Siberia, runs its own Android-based
firmware that lets apps run on the device but stops them from collecting data.
The phone also has a built-in agent that gives the administrator -- such as a
corporate IT department -- control over what apps will work on the device and
what content the user can access or share.
“Most smartphone apps collect certain data on users and
send it to outside servers,” said Natalya Kaspersky, head of InfoWatch. “When
people use personal phones at work, their corporate emails, documents and
job-related photos come under threat of being -- maliciously or accidentally --
leaked to third parties.”
InfoWatch is betting on demand in Russia amid concerns
over user data collected by U.S.-based companies such as Google and Facebook.
The first 50,000 Taiga phones, made in China, will be delivered to employees of
Russian companies co-owned by the state. Potential markets also include
Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, where InfoWatch has opened offices.
Kaspersky co-founded anti-virus producer Kaspersky Lab
and ran it before her divorce from partner Eugene Kaspersky. President Donald
Trump recently restricted the use of Kaspersky Lab products by U.S. government
entities over the firm’s alleged ties with the Russian government. Kaspersky
now runs her own business and works in a Kremlin-backed working group on
information-technology sovereignty.
Vladimir Putin is seeking to reduce Russia’s reliance on
companies such as Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machines Corp.
amid geopolitical tensions with the U.S. over Ukraine and Syria. Russia gave
asylum to U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden, who revealed that the National Security
Agency had access to Google’s data centers worldwide, and a local TV channel
this year ran a comedy series about an American spy at Russia’s largest natural
gas producer Gazprom PJSC.
Comments
Post a Comment