Next Friday, May 27th, I’ll be spending the day in Melbourne with Eugene Kaspersky. If that last name sounds familiar, its because he’s the co-founder and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, makers of multiple security products. Kaspersky is in Australia for the AusCERT conference on the Gold Coast, but will visit Sydney, then Melbourne before heading home to Russia.
Kaspersky will meet with Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle in the morning, and will finish with the day by soaking up one of Australia’s specialties, an AFL game between Melbourne and Carlton at the MCG.
If you have any questions you’d like to ask Kaspersky, then leave a comment on this post and I’ll try and get you an answer. There’ll be plenty of coverage (Photos, Videos, Twitter and Facebook posts) throughout the day, just be sure to stay glued to http://techAU.tv.
Image credit: Wikipedia
Biography
Eugene Kaspersky’s love for mathematics determined his “technical” future. One of his hobbies during high school was to solve problems published in mathematical journals. During his last years in high school, he attended extracurricular classes in physics and mathematics at a dedicated program organized by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Eugene spent his last two years of high school taking physics and mathematics courses in a specialized program for gifted students organized by and affiliated with Moscow State University.
In 1987, Eugene graduated from the Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications and Computer Science, where he studied mathematics, cryptography and computer technology, majoring in mathematical engineering.
After graduating, Eugene worked at a multi-disciplinary research institute. It was there that Eugene first began studying computer viruses after detecting the Cascade virus on his computer in October 1989. Eugene analysed the virus and developed a disinfection utility for it – the first such utility he developed. He started collecting malicious programs and disinfection modules for them. This exotic collection later formed the foundation of the famous antivirus database in Kaspersky Anti-Virus. Today, this database includes more than 4 million records and is one of the most complete antivirus databases in the world.
In 1991, Eugene joined the KAMI Information Technologies Centre, where he and a group of colleagues developed the AVP antivirus project, which became the prototype for Kaspersky Anti-Virus. International recognition of the project occurred in 1994, when the virtually unknown AVP won a contest conducted by Hamburg University’s test lab by demonstrating a higher virus detection rate than the most popular antivirus programs at the time.
In 1997, Eugene and his colleagues decided to establish an independent company, becoming the founders of Kaspersky Lab. From that moment, he has headed the company’s antivirus research. In 2007, Eugene was named CEO of Kaspersky Lab. Eugene is a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, and a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation. In 2010 Eugene received the CEO of the Year award from SC Magazine Europe.
