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Fwd: Morzhovyi. . . morgenalia
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The os bacula thread seems to have run out about a month ago (sorry, I
have fallen badly behind in reading NABOKV-L posts), but I just ran
across the following in Johnson's Russia List (Item No. 20 in JRL 9011,
11 jan 2005):
ZDNet UK
January 10, 2005
Russia's cybercrime-fighting Bond villain
By Dan Ilett
Three large and weathered Russian women fiercely stand guard at the
entrance to a former Soviet nuclear missile building. We show them our
passports half wondering if they are as amused as we are, but they glare
back coldly without hint of a smile and wave us through.
Walking along the gloomy corridor to the office, the interior looks
tatty and has crumbling walls. But on entering Kaspersky Labs proper,
the scenery changes. Manning the computers in the spacious modern
offices are the antivirus researchers nicknamed 'woodpeckers' for their
ability to hammer viruses within minutes of detection.
Sitting behind a large desk at the back of the room is Eugene Kaspersky
- a pony-tailed Russian in his early forties with a wry smile. On his
desk are two heavy weapons - a wooden flail and a long, heavy bone he
says was once a Walrus penis. They are useful for keeping the
woodpeckers under control, he jokes. On the wall behind the desk is a
dramatic portrait of a younger Kaspersky looking for all the world like
a James Bond villain. Surrounded by three beautiful women -- one of whom
is Natalya, his ex-wife and CEO of the company -- the young Kaspersky
has a self-aware expression and holds a globe in his hands.
Kaspersky built the antivirus labs which bear his name from scratch
during the 1990s. A graduate of the Institute of Cryptography,
Telecommunications and Computer Science, he worked in military
scientific research institute until 1991. He began studying computer
viruses in 1989, when he discovered the Cascade virus on his own
computer.
If anyone is interested in the rest of this short article on Kaspersky,
I would be glad to forward it.
Earl Sampson
esampson@post.harvard.edu
--
Art is not difficult because it wishes to be difficult, but because it
wishes to be art.
- Donald Barthelme
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