In a separate blog, the NCSC's technical director Ian Levy added to Martin's comments: 'If we can't develop solutions with these suppliers that we feel mitigate the risk to UK national security, other solutions will be needed. 'In particular we are seeking verifiable measures to prevent the transfer of UK data to the Russian state.' 'We are in discussions with Kaspersky Lab, by far the largest Russian player in the UK, about whether we can develop a framework that we and others can independently verify, which would give the government assurance about the security of their involvement in the wider UK market,' wrote Martin. is also actively working with Kaspersky to deal with any possible threat. The NCSC's guidance didn't extend to bodies outside of government, something Kaspersky Lab was keen to point out in a statement emailed to Forbes: 'It's very important to note that the NCSC is not encouraging consumers or businesses against using Kaspersky Lab software.' The company didn't comment further on the NCSC releases.

Once exploited, the security tools can be turned into incredibly useful snooping tools, as they have permission to grab most files on a PC or smartphone, hence the concern over Russia exerting influence on Kaspersky, or simply hacking its products. As anti-virus products have deep access to the computers on which they're installed, they make attractive targets for hackers and spies.

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