Eugene Kaspersky: Infuencer of the Year

Channelnomics, By: Antone Gonsalves

Few people in the technology industry had a year like Russian cryptographer turned IT security entrepreneur Eugene Kaspersky. From being named one of Wired Magazine’s “15 Most Dangerous People in the World,” to elevating the concept of cyberwarfare to a household word with his bold and innovative suggestions for international regulatory efforts to thwart hackers, the charismatic Kaspersky uses both his notoriety and his status as a security thought leader as a bully pulpit to change the way the world thinks about securing its networks and technology assets.

His 15-year-old, $650-million-a-year company, Kaspersky Lab, now operates in 200 countries and his security products protect more than 300 million users worldwide. That position has afforded him a privileged window into the burgeoning world of cyber crime. What he’s seen has pushed him to call for a kind of “Internet Interpol”’ and more cooperation between international law enforcement and private agencies such as the International Telecommunication Union in pursuit of cyber crooks. He’s also called for so-called “Internet Passports,” a kind of online ID required for network access to stifle criminal behavior.

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