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Eugene Kaspersky is the Russian entrepreneur behind the antivirus company Kaspersky Lab. His company is known as a leader in the industry, frequently discovering important cybersecurity weaknesses.
But his Soviet upbringing and early business life inform the man he is today.
He's now worth over billion dollars and has quite a few stories to tell ...
Eugene Kaspersky was born in 1965 in the city of Novorossiysk, which was then part of the Soviet Union.
At an early age he knew he liked math and all things technical. By the age of 12 he was already studying advanced mathematics. His parents realized his talents early on, and had him take extracurricular classes to further excel.
He went to university in Moscow at the Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications, and Computer Science. His major was mathematical engineering, and he focused on cryptography and other computer technologies.
Despite his interest in cryptology, he decided to not pursue being a full-time cryptologist. Why? In his words, "I wasn’t clever enough to become a cryptologist."
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After he graduated, Kaspersky began work at a KGB-sponsored cryptography institute. It was there that he first learned about the world of computer viruses. His interest was first piqued when he discovered what was known as a Cascade virus on his computer in 1989. He analyzed this virus and then developed his first antivirus disinfection program.
After leaving the research institute, he joined the KAMI Information Technologies center to develop an antivirus program. This program — called AVP — set the groundwork for what Kaspersky Anti-Virus would become.
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During the early ‘90s, while he was developing the AVP, he also served as an officer in the Soviet Army.
In 1997, he decided to make his own antivirus company. He cofounded it with his now ex-wife, Natalya.
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Kaspersky first called his product AVP, and it was widely considered one of the better antivirus programs on the market. But an American man registered the AVP trademark. This significantly hurt Kaspersky’s business at the time. But, in 2000, he officially changed the name of his product to Kaspersky Anti-Virus, which is what it remains to this day.
An employee works near screens in the virus lab at the headquarters of Russian cyber security company Kaspersky Labs in Moscow
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In the late ‘90s, there were few good antivirus programs. So Kaspersky’s product began to gain real traction. "At the time, the software market was very small, and we had almost zero sales, but we used every opportunity for income. I recognized that it was possible to earn money from anti-virus software when I first saw companies starting to suffer from virus," he told Info Security Magazine.
Eugene Kaspersky, chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, answers a question during an interview in New York
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Today the company has over 3,000 employees, and brings in global revenue of $711 million.
An employee works near screens in the virus lab at the headquarters of Russian cyber security company Kaspersky Labs in Moscow
Thomson Reuters
And Kaspersky Lab brings in some exceptional employees who are known for nabbing the most threatening malware around. Kaspersky hired the researcher known for discovering Stuxnet, the virus that destroyed Iranian centrifuges. This helped Kaspersky discover another Stuxnet-like worm called Flame in 2012.
He also loves race-car driving, and even had Kaspersky Lab sponsor a race car in the Formula One Grand Prix — although he admits that he drives a BMW M3.
