NOTES, COMMENT AND BUZZ FROM EUGENE KASPERSKY – OFFICIAL BLOG
July 20, 2026
Privyet, droogs!
Yes – we’ve been stitching time and saving the world a full 29 years already! And last Friday we celebrated those 29 years in typically unrestrained, loud, colorful, and rock & rollicking style. Also typical: the venue – the only one in the Moscow Region that can fit us all in: the Zavidovo resort complex:
Yet another typical: the weather didn’t cooperate right away…
December 13, 2025
Privyet folks!
December is usually a pretty busy month for us. There’s the year-end budget-closing and reporting, an evening with our key clients and partners (x 2: (i) for our traditional/new products, and (ii) for our Operating System), New Year department parties, and my annual Santa Claus & Co. tour of all three HQ buildings (festive speeches, poetry and team photos on all 15 floors – and a sherry on each some:). And there’s another fun year-end event, which just so happens to be getting crazily big!…
I’m talking about our 10 and 25-years-working-at-K anniversary awards!
July 10, 2025
As any regular reader of this here blog will know, every year (besides years like 2020) on a Friday in the first half of July we celebrate the company’s birthday. This year, of course, was no exception. A full day – and night – of partying: big, varied, loud, fun… and this year – hurray! – lots of sun!
Yet again, the venue was our favorite Radisson Resort in Zavidovo – some 130km northwest of Moscow. And this year – as the title’s already let on – we had 3500 guests: a record!
February 25, 2025
What is an Auto-Woodpecker, and what does it have to do with AI?…
We live in the age of AI hype. Artificial intelligence is here, there, and everywhere – so promising, slightly mysterious, but undeniably guiding humanity toward a brighter future of technological singularity that’s still somewhat incomprehensible and potentially a black hole.
Some readers might detect sarcasm in this statement – but that would be a mistake. Machine-learning-driven automation (ML), neural networks, and other AI technologies have already taken over many industries. And there’s more to come in the evolution of Homo sapiens. If you’re interested in diving deeper into this topic, check out the history of the various industrial revolutions: first, second, third, and even fourth.
In line with this trend, cybersecurity was perhaps one of the pioneers in adopting new, smart technologies. And what makes me particularly proud of this process is that our company was one of the first in the industry to successfully implement this bright AI-driven future. How else could we possibly handle nearly half a million (!) new malicious programs emerging every single day as of early 2025? No educational system in the world can produce enough experts to keep up with that. The only solution is to create intelligent systems capable of independently and highly accurately neutralizing cyberattacks. Experts are then left with only the most complex cases – and, of course, the challenging task of inventing and continuously improving these systems.
A few days ago, we celebrated a cool anniversary. Twenty years ago was born the prototype of our first AI/ML technology for automatic malware analysis and the creation of “detections” – antivirus updates that protect computers, gadgets, and other devices from new attacks.
The technology was given a name that’s rather odd at first glance – Avtodyatel, which translates as Auto-Woodpecker! But there’s a simple explanation for it: within our team, security analysts were affectionately referred to as woodpeckers – tirelessly pecking away at viruses and processing streams of suspicious files. And then we added the “Auto” to “Woodpecker” for the name of the tech designed to do this job automatically (incidentally, I was a woodpecker myself back then).
February 6, 2025
At the weekend, I visited the highly recommended ATOM Museum at the VDNKh exhibition complex in northern Moscow. And I can report that it’s an absolute delight! Simply must-visit for the whole family – if you find yourself in the Russian capital, that is…
In the entrance hall – straight down to business: a scale model of… can you guess which element?*
From the beginning of the nuclear arms race through to the modern-day achievements of Russia’s (peaceful) nuclear-energy industry – there’s a lot covered here (and in great detail). The main downside: no history of the early research (Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and all that). But everything else is well-organized and informative.
In we go – and downward: to the minus-third floor…
July 12, 2024
All righty. I told you about the preparations and rehearsals for our birthday blowout. Today let me tell you about the blowout itself – and I don’t use that term for a party without reason…
So, the roof of the main stage had been repaired (put back), and the day promised to be a warm and sunny one; however… ->
Yes – that huge mass of cloud was heading right our way. And despite our crossed fingers, it didn’t pass us by…
July 11, 2024
Hi folks!
Early July for us every year gives us something very special to celebrate here at K: our corporate birthday! For several years already we’ve held our all-day birthday party in Zavidovo out in the Moscow Region (here) (since it’s perhaps the only venue that can fit us all in). This year, suddenly – we’re 27 years old already, and to celebrate, we had more than 3300 guests attend the bash!…
In case you’re new to this here blog of mine, here are some posts on how things have gone down birthday-wise in recent years – 2023, 2022, 2021, and so on.
In today’s post – photos from the day before the shindig: a day of rehearsals and other preparations…
The main stage was up, everything so far going to plan ->
August 8, 2023
Hi folks!
Onward – with more of my extraordinary terrestrial greatest hits…
Bizarre tale of the unique/unusual kind No. 8
Here’s an extraordinary, extraordinarily-large tale from way back in 2009…
The previously-mentioned Harry Cheung (formerly the director of our Chinese office) just so happened to be friends with none other than Jackie Chan! And together the two of them pooled their power-clout and managed to convince the Beijing authorities to sanction a huge pop concert in the Chinese capital’s main stadium – yes: the (Olympic) Bird’s Nest! The undertaking turned out to cost an arm-and-a-leg, but still we managed to recoup costs from ticket sales (the surplus went to charity) – after all, Jackie himself was to appear (and sing – and not a bad singing voice he has either!), as did other top pop artists from both China and Korea. The event turned out to be massive. Chinese style…
Here’s the scene just before the start, with the stands still-only half-full ->
Btw – this truly was “our” event – organized by us, sponsored by us. Look – only our banners are to be seen around the stands (in both English and Chinese) ->
July 13, 2023
Our b-day celebrations are back. Period! But this year’s was extra special: we had a double-whammy, for we marked two of our anniversaries: our 25th and 26th birthdays rolled into one! But wait – there’s more: it was attended by a full 3100+ guests. Oh my grandiose!
But first – rewind, selecta…
Some 26 years ago – on June 26, 1997, to be precise – a small but very ambitious and restless company first saw the light of day. And as luck would have it, the company was named after moi (I objected to this, albeit halfheartedly:). We were the epitome of a tiny startup: no money, no venture capital, no financial support at all in fact. But what can I say? It just grew and grew and grew – eventually becoming the multinational corporation you know today!
I won’t go over the story of how we registered the Kompany, since I’ve already done so – here. (And for more AV-adventures from yesteryear – go here.)
Here, I’ll simply go over the main things: the format, and a review of this year’s bash…
Our b-day celebrations are always all-dayers (and nighters!); they’re always next to a large body of water; there are always more attractions/rides to go on and sporty/fun activities to get stuck into than you can possibly imagine; there are always the tastiest eats and drinkies; there’s always a slew of bands (and other shows) made up of our own who take to the main stage; there’s always much dancing; and there’s always a headliner – or two – as the icing on the cake. But there’s a lot more to it than that quick summary, but we’ll get to that… In a nutshell: it was a proper, full-fledged high-adrenaline blowout!…
November 11, 2022
Greetings boys and girls!
Suddenly – we’ve another jubillee. Hurray!…
Our cyber-immune operating system – KasperskyOS – is today… wait. No, that’s not quite correct…
Exactly 20 years ago – on November 11, 2002 – we began a long, hugely significant journey; a journey we’re in fact still on. A large, grandiose project that will change (and is already changing!) so much in the global cybersecurity domain. And that’s not hyperbole folks – it’s for real. And to get the full (hi)story of our cyber-immune OS, we need to go back to its humble beginnings in the early 2000s…
But before I go back 20 years, let me say a few words about today – November 11, 2022. Everyone today (besides the cave-dweller) understands perfectly well the critical importance of cybersecurity. Trillions of dollars are spent today on treating the symptoms of cyber-disease, but hardly any on dealing with its root causes. And the only way to break the cycle of constant Band-Aiding those symptoms is an overhaul of the architecture of computer systems, no less. Agree? Yes? Good, and thank you!…
The first time I’d gotten an inkling about this was even earlier than 20 years ago – in the fall of… 1989! For it was then when my PC became infected with the Cascade virus, which got me all curious and prompted me to start developing protection against it and all other cyber-contagion.
Thus, curiosity killed the cat was the start of everything for us. It was why our –V anti-virus first appeared, later why Kaspersky Lab was founded, and later still why we expanded right around the globe.
Fast-forward a full 12 years after Cascade, and my understanding of the imperfection of existing operating systems and the urgent need to do something about it finally, let’s say, crystalized, and came to the surface on a practical level (apologies for this perhaps seemingly over-detailed history tree, but it is, after all, our heritage:)…
