The chief executive of Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab says he is willing to have his company's source code examined by U.S. officials to ease concerns about its cybersecurity products.
Eugene Kaspersky said in an interview published on July 2 by the Associated Press that "if the United States needs, we can disclose the source code" -- the fundamental component of a computer program.
He added that he was willing to testify before the U.S. Congress to discuss concerns about his products and to move some of his research work to the United States if it would help dispel worries.
"Anything I can do to prove that we don't behave maliciously, I will do it," he said.
Kaspersky, who lives in Moscow and is one of Russia's richest men, previously worked for the Russian military and has often been accused of using his company to help Russian government interests. He has called the accusations "Cold War paranoia."
U.S. media have reported that U.S. officials are concerned that Russian intelligence agents could use Kaspersky software to spy on Americans or sabotage U.S. computer systems.
Kaspersky said his company exclusively does defensive work, although he acknowledged that some unnamed governments -- although not Russian -- had tried to involve him in hacking.
"I stopped that immediately. I don't even want to talk about it," he said.