Kaspersky has released a new whitepaper, "Protection Beyond Detection: Why Trust and Transparency Decide Your Cybersecurity Future," highlighting the results of an independent Transparency and Accountability Assessment of 14 leading cybersecurity vendors. The research, commissioned by the Tyrol Chamber of Commerce in 2025 and conducted with MCI The Entrepreneurial SchoolR and Studio Legale Tremolada in cooperation with AV-Comparatives, evaluated vendors on data handling, supply chain trust, and customer verification practices.
Kaspersky emerged as one of the most transparent vendors, consistently exceeding industry norms:Among only three vendors providing access to Transparency Centers for reviewing source code, data handling practices, and update processes.
Offers the broadest Transparency Center coverage, including threat detection rule reviews and build verification.
One of only three vendors providing a Software Bill of Materials SBOM and one of four publishing regular transparency reports on law enforcement and government requests.
Met or exceeded benchmarks in 57 out of 60 assessment criteria, including secure software development, vulnerability reporting, audits, and security advisories.
The hands-on evaluation also highlighted Kaspersky Next EDR Optimum, which demonstrated minimal data collection and allowed customers to disable cloud-based EDR and reputation services entirely. Kaspersky also enables customers to inspect virus definitions and supports controlled update rollouts, critical for regulated or sensitive environments.
The whitepaper emphasizes that transparency and accountability are key determinants of trust in cybersecurity, linking them to governance, compliance, and supply chain risk. It encourages CISOs to evaluate vendors based not only on protection capabilities but also on verifiable transparency practices, offering an actionable checklist to assess software provider trustworthiness and strengthen supply chain resilience.
