Case in point: Whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that American telecommunications companies shared vast amounts of personal data with the ultra-secret U.S. National Security Agency, where Geers once worked.



It's certainly possible, Geers said, that Kaspersky's software contains a secret "backdoor" to allow Russian special services access for law enforcement and counterintelligence purposes.



"If such a secret backdoor exists, I would not be shocked," Geers said. "A worldwide deployment of sensors may be too great a temptation for any country's intelligence services to ignore."



"Kaspersky may also have been required by Russian authorities to participate in a quiet business partnership with the government," he said.



A former CIA station chief in Moscow agreed that Kaspersky may have had little choice.



"These guys' families, their well-being, everything they have is in Russia," said Steve Hall, who later headed the agency's Russian operations before retiring in 2015.



Kaspersky is "a Russian company," Hall said. "Any time (Russian President Vladimir Putin) wants Kaspersky to do something – anything – he'll remind them that's where their families are and where their bank accounts are. There's no doubt in my mind it could be, if it's not already, under the control of Putin."



Kaspersky has rejected any notion that it might be an intelligence front, citing its years of delivering quality products.



"As a private company, Kaspersky Lab has no ties to any government, and the company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyber espionage efforts," Eugene Kaspersky said in May during an "Ask Me Anything" session on the Web site Reddit.



Indeed, many cyber experts, including those with federal government backgrounds, have praised the quality of Kaspersky software. The company also has a record of exposing cyberattacks, including the U.S. government's Stuxnet attack that disabled Iran's nuclear weapons development even though the Iranian equipment wasn't connected to the Internet.