According to Kasperksy Lab, initial work on the operating system, which has now been released, began 15 years ago. It is tailored to the telecommunications and automotive industries as well as critical infrastructures.

The concept of Kaspersky OS is that a program can only execute documented and permitted functions, so that cyber attacks have no chance of causing damage by accessing undocumented features or incorrect program behavior.

At the heart of KasperskyOS is a microkernel developed by Kaspersky Lab. This kernel implements inter-process communication, which is the only way in which communication can take place and which nobody can bypass. Furthermore, there are so-called 'security domains'; these are separate groups of applications that can only influence each other if the inter-process communication has been specifically enabled.
A security configuration must be created for each application. This configuration contains all communication and access rights with which the application is equipped. Not only the applications, but also all hardware and software resources such as files, databases, network ports etc. have such security attributes. Without a security configuration, no application can be executed and no file can be accessed without correctly set security attributes. The security policies are stored in a protected memory area that can only be addressed by trusted services.

Flexible use and different versions

There are three different versions of KasperskyOS and the security concept behind it:

• KasperskyOS is the basis for devices such as network routers, IP cameras or IoT controllers. It addresses the needs of the telecommunications industry, applications within critical infrastructures and the emerging spread of the Internet of Things.
• Kaspersky Secure Hypervisor allows applications to run under strict control of their communication behavior. The solution addresses the needs of the telecommunications and automotive industries and can be used to consolidate multiple functions on a common hardware.
• Kaspersky Security System can be used with or without the Kasperky microkernel and improves the security of conventional operating systems as well as other embedded and real-time operating systems.

Kasperky OS runs on x86/x64 systems with Pentium II or higher and with Realtek 8139 or Intel 82580 Ethernet controllers, as well as on ARM systems with ARMv7 or later architecture. Regarding pricing, Kaspersky writes: "As these are individual projects tailored to each customer, the price of KasperskyOS varies according to requirements."