Kaspersky has opened the doors of its first Transparency Centre in the Middle East, with the new facility located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Launched within the framework of Kaspersky’s signature Global Transparency Initiative for building trust and giving assurances of the integrity of Kaspersky’s solutions and processes, the centre will offer visitors services ranging from an overview of the company’s transparency practices to the company’s source code review.
Kaspersky selected Riyadh as the venue for its first Transparency Centre in the Middle East to closely align with the goals of “Saudi Vision 2030.” The vision prioritises digital transformation, and aims to promote the Kingdom’s position as the regional hub for technology and innovation, and has transformed the country into a destination to attract international companies to establish their local headquarters in Riyadh.
His Excellency the Vice Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Haytham AlOhali, inaugurated the new Transparency Centre in the presence of officials from the ministry. Apart from government officials, the opening event also welcomed Kaspersky’s partners and customers, media representatives, as well as young students from Saudi Arabia on Kaspersky’s internship programme.
With the opening of the all-new facility in the Kingdom, Kaspersky now operates a network of 10 Transparency Centres, located in Europe, APAC, North and Latin America, and the Middle East.
Visitors to the Transparency Centre in Riyadh can review the source code of all of Kaspersky on-premise solutions. Review options depend on sophistication level following mountain “piste” skiing classification – “blue”, “red”, and “black.” “Blue piste” offers a general overview of the security development processes of Kaspersky products and services, as well as data management procedures. “Red piste” allows a review of the most critical aspects of source code, assisted by the company’s specialists, and provides a targeted analysis of a particular functionality. “Black piste” enables visitors to conduct the most comprehensive source code review, with the help of Kaspersky’s experts.
Commenting on the company’s further developments in the region, Eugene Kaspersky, founder and CEO of Kaspersky, noted: “As true pioneers in advancing digital trust, this year we mark the five-year anniversary of our Global Transparency Initiative. And today, we are celebrating the arrival of this benchmark initiative in the Middle East, which is presently undergoing both rapid and deep digital transformation. To enhance trust, we are happy to welcome our stakeholders to our just-opened Transparency Centre in Riyadh and to answer any questions about the company and its solutions. As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia works toward building its name as a leading tech-hub in the region, we look forward to supporting it in its digital journey – along the way turning transparency into a universal standard.”
Earlier this year, Kaspersky announced its plans to further grow the network of Transparency Centres, opening additional new facilities in the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region by mid-2024, as part of plans to further develop its Global Transparency Initiative.
Launched in 2017, the initiative aims to open the “black box” of technology by educating stakeholders on Kaspersky products, while also engaging with the broader community in validating and verifying the trustworthiness of Kaspersky’s products, internal processes, and business operations. As part of the GTI development, Kaspersky is the first cybersecurity vendor to open its source code for external review.
