No, yes, sorta, but no different than how most, if not all, large American security and tech vendors have either over, or covert, links to the the American Security State.

Kaspersky is a long established pioneer and leader in the security space, hands down one of the best track records over the long run, and you should take their reporting and disclosures seriously.

I’m not saying that to dismiss the very valid concerns about installing Kaspersky on sensitive private sector and government systems, but to contextualize my answer.

On a sort of related note, earlier I said that the American security state has both overt, and covert, links all across the American tech sector.

What that means is that, even if a company holds their principles not compromising their customers or their product, the US government can either get a court order to force it, or they’ll be targeted by something like the Pentagons Signature Reduction program and have sheep dipped employees worked into their organization.