Kaspersky Blasts Bloomberg's 'Bad Tabloid Journalism,' KGB Sauna Allegation

Kaspersky Lab fired back at Bloomberg on Friday, saying that they have never sent any user data to third parties, including security agencies, against the user's will.

"The fever of looking for Kremlin-linked conspiracies has reached journalists from Bloomberg. And curiously this happened not long after our investigation on the Equation Group," the company's founder, Eugene Kaspersky wrote in his blog.

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the Russian company cooperates with Russian security services and also gives data accessible to its anti-virus program to US authorities.

"The anti-virus program works the same as most of those made by countries around the world. In part, the user can forbid the transfer of his data to third parties," the company's Head of Global Government Relations, Anton Shingarev, told RIA Novosti.

The Bloomberg article alleged that Eugene Kaspersky fosters connections between his company and the Russian government through banya (traditional Russian sauna) nights, a claim which Kaspersky called "an attempt to deliberately mislead the readers."

In February, Kaspersky Lab announced that it found a hacking collective dubbed the Equation Group, which must have been sponsored by a nation-state with vast resources in order to operate. An Equation Group operation led to some 500 infections in at least 30 countries, including Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Syria. The operation targeted banks, foreign governments, embassies, energy and infrastructure, media, telecommunications sectors and Islamist groups.