A key cybercrime investigator at Russia’s biggest cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky, has been arrested on charges of treason, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Kaspersky Lab confirmed Kommersant’s report that Ruslan Stoyanov, head of its computer incidents investigations unit, was arrested in December.
Stoyanov was arrested along with a senior Russian FSB intelligence officer, Sergei Mikhailov, according to Kommersant. Mikhailov, who also faces treason charges, was the deputy head of the information security department of the FSB, Russia’s national security service.
Investigators are examining money that Stoyanov allegedly received from foreign companies, according to Kommersant. A source told Forbes that the case has been filed under article 275 of Russia’s criminal code, which allows the government to prosecute an individual suspected of aiding a foreign state or organization.
"Stoyanov was involved in every big arrest of cybercriminals in Russia in past years," the source said.
Kaspersky’s spokeswoman, Maria Shirokova, said in a statement that Stoyanov’s arrest "has nothing to do with Kaspersky Lab and its operations," and that the investigation dates back to the time before Stoyanov was hired by the firm.
Stoyanov’s previous jobs, listed on LinkedIn, include a position at the Cyber Crime Unit at the Russian Interior Ministry that he held between 2000-2006. He then moved into the private sector to work at Kaspersky, according to his LinkedIn page.
US intelligence agencies have accused Russia of meddling in the presidential election through hacking to help Donald Trump win the vote, claims that Russia has rejected. It wasn’t immediately clear if the arrests are somehow linked to these allegations.
"Treason charges are by no means rare (see this case or this even more farcical one, which in fairness was eventually tossed out), so it is hard to know at this stage what is involved," Mark Galeotti, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations specializing in Russian security affairs said in an email. "But simply the suspicion of passing information to foreigners for cash or carelessly might be enough."
Andrei Soldatov, however, who has studied the internet and Russian security services for more than a decade, called the arrest of the Kaspersky manager "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 told The Associated Press. "Intelligence agencies used to ask for Kaspersky’s advice, and this is how informal ties were built. This romance is clearly over."
The FSB’s press office wasn’t immediately available for comment and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also declined comment.
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