Eugene Kaspersky, 49, is co-founder, chairman and chief executive of Kaspersky Lab, one of the world’s leading providers of antivirus technology for computers. Kaspersky, who was born in Novorossiysk, Russia, graduated in 1987 from the Russian Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications and Computer Science with a degree in computer technology and mathematical engineering. In 1989, while working for the Soviet military as a cryptographer, he discovered a virus in his computer and began to study and treat it. He did the same for another colleague who had found a virus in his computer. By 1991, Kaspersky had moved to a private company, where he and his colleagues developed a program called AntiViral Toolkit Pro. That was the prototype for what became the Kaspersky Anti-Virus, now sold by Kaspersky Lab, the company that he founded in 1997. Based in Moscow, the company now has 30 regional offices and works in nearly 200 countries. The company became a sponsor in Formula One with the Ferrari team in 2010 and has expanded into one of the team’s major sponsors and technical partners. Kaspersky’s software is used in the Ferrari computer system and he plans additional projects within the series. Kaspersky is a racing fan and he occasionally drives sports cars on racetracks for fun. As part of an occasional series focusing on famous and unusual Formula One fans, Kaspersky spoke recently with Brad Spurgeon of the International New York Times.

Q. How do you find time to be a Formula One fan and what attracts you to the series?

A. I don’t follow every race. I see it on the TV, or check the results after, or see the most impressive moments on YouTube. I know some guys who just travel and follow every race if they have enough money in their wallet. I am not such a person. I like it, I like motor sport, and when I have the time, if there is an opportunity to have a sports car on a track, of course I do that. I go to races two or three times a year.

Q. What inspired the Kaspersky Lab sponsorship with Ferrari?

A. Speed, security, innovations. And a very good combination of the green color of my company and the red color of Ferrari.

We have some unusual marketing projects and activities. We were sponsoring Jackie Chan in Asia and had commercials with him, and we had a concert. There was a rock concert at the Olympic stadium in Beijing, with about 70,000 people, and it was full of our ads so it was very good promotion. We also sponsored a female skiing expedition to the South Pole. That was the reason I came to the South Pole.