The Dutch government is phasing out the use of anti-virus software made by Russian firm Kaspersky Lab amid fears of possible spying, despite vehement denials by the Moscow-based cyber security company. The Dutch Justice and Security ministry said in a statement late Monday the decision had been taken as a "precautionary measure" in order "to guarantee national security".
But Kaspersky Lab, whose anti-virus software is installed on some 400 million computers worldwide, said Tuesday it was "very disappointed" by the move. The firm, which is suspected by US authorities of helping the Kremlin's espionage efforts, also announced Tuesday that it was moving its core infrastructure and operations to Switzerland.
"Our new centre in Switzerland will strengthen the proven integrity of Kaspersky Lab's products, (and) significantly improve the resilience of our IT infrastructure to any trust risk - even theoretical ones," the Russian company said in a statement.
Last year, the US federal government removed Kaspersky from its list of approved vendors, weeks after senior US intelligence agency and law enforcement officials expressed concerns about the safety of its software.
The Netherlands fears Kaspersky's anti-virus software is "deep in systems" and any abuse could "pose a major security risk."