HackingSenior manager at Russia’s biggest cybersecurity firm arrested

Kaspersky Lab on Wednesday confirmed reports in the usually reliable Kommersant newspaper that Ruslan Stoyanov, the head of the cybersecurity firm computer incidents investigations unit, was arrested in December. Kommersant said Stoyanov was detained along with a senior Russian FSB intelligence officer and that they both faced charges of treason.

The FSB, the heir to the KGB, was one of the two Russian intelligence agencies which conducted the hacking and disinformation effort to help Donald Trump win the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

It was not immediately clear whether the arrests were linked to the Russian interference in the U.S. elections – or to similar interference efforts by Russia in the political affairs of several European counries.

Kaspersky Lab is Russia’s biggest cybersecurity firm.

Forbes reports that Kaspersky’s spokeswoman, Maria Shirokova, said in a statement that Stoyanov’s arrest “has nothing to do with Kaspersky Lab and its operations.” She said the company had no details of the charges Stoyanov faced, but added that the investigation dated back to the time before Stoyanov was hired by Kaspersky.

Stoyanov’s previous jobs include a position at the cybercrime unit at the Russian interior ministry in the early 2000s.

Both the FSB’s press office and the Kremlin spokesman declined to comment.

Andrei Soldatov, who has studied the Internet and Russian security services for more than a decade, told the AP that the arrest of the Kaspersky manager was unprecedented.

“It destroys a system that has been 20 years in the making, the system of relations between intelligence agencies and companies like Kaspersky,” he said. “Intelligence agencies used to ask for Kaspersky’s advice, and this is how informal ties were built. This romance is clearly over.”

nov, the head of the cybersecurity firm computer incidents investigations unit, was arrested in December. Kommersant said Stoyanov was detained along with a senior Russian FSB intelligence officer and that they both faced charges of treason.

The FSB, the heir to the KGB, was one of the two Russian intelligence agencies which conducted the hacking and disinformation effort to help Donald Trump win the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

It was not immediately clear whether the arrests were linked to the Russian interference in the U.S. elections – or to similar interference efforts by Russia in the political affairs of several European counries.

Kaspersky Lab is Russia’s biggest cybersecurity firm.

Forbes reports that Kaspersky’s spokeswoman, Maria Shirokova, said in a statement that Stoyanov’s arrest “has nothing to do with Kaspersky Lab and its operations.” She said the company had no details of the charges Stoyanov faced, but added that the investigation dated back to the time before Stoyanov was hired by Kaspersky.

Stoyanov’s previous jobs include a position at the cybercrime unit at the Russian interior ministry in the early 2000s.

Both the FSB’s press office and the Kremlin spokesman declined to comment.

Andrei Soldatov, who has studied the Internet and Russian security services for more than a decade, told the AP that the arrest of the Kaspersky manager was unprecedented.

“It destroys a system that has been 20 years in the making, the system of relations between intelligence agencies and companies like Kaspersky,” he said. “Intelligence agencies used to ask for Kaspersky’s advice, and this is how informal ties were built. This romance is clearly over.”