Kaspersky Labs has finally completed the development of their custom operating system after four years of work. The Security giant has created it specifically for protecting corporate users and runs on supported devices such as routers.
Kaspersky’s Operating System Is Custom Made for Government and Business Clients
Little is known at the moment except that development is complete. Details about the operating system itself are available on a paper that has been published when the work on the software began. The target systems are critical services and corporate networks that protect sensitive equipment such as power stations, telecommunications networks and electricity grids. Defending industrial control systems is a serious task and as such the developers of Kaspersky have devised several mechanisms that are featured in the operating system’s design.
The source code is not based on any existing design. This means that the programmers have created the whole system and all components from scratch. This step is required so that no vulnerabilities may affect it. The criminals must first get acquainted with the system’s logic of operation before being able to target components for security exploits. Creating vulnerabilities without knowing the system internals is practically impossible, and this raises the security standards to a very high level.
All source code must be verified as secure by not containing programmer errors. The kernel itself, for this reason, must be highly optimized and contain only the bare minimum of functionality to provide a secure environment. Essential system function is maintained by the kernel and all other components not requiring low-level access rights can run as modules including drivers.
In regards to the various cyber security threats, the system would need to be reliable so that it can safeguard the network from advanced threats. The information posted so far suggests that the operating system allows the users to administrate the network defenses in industrial control system setups, hospital environments, and IoT containing networks.
Several deployments have already been made in devices made by Kraftway, a company that sells products tailored to industrial, government, healthcare and education clients. Kaspersky Labs is going to release further details about the new operating system in the coming weeks
