Israel hack uncovered Russian spies' use of Kaspersky in 2015, report says

Information led to US decision to end use of company's software across federal government in December

An Israeli security agency hacked into Russian antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab in 2015, providing the crucial evidence required to ban the company from providing services to the US government, according to a report.

While the Israeli spies were inside Kaspersky's systems, they observed Russian spies in turn using the company's tools to spy on American spies, the New York Times reports. That information, handed to the US, led to the decision in September to end the use of the company's software across the federal government by December.