Kaspersky Lab is trying to beat back spying accusations by inviting an independent party to review its source code.
"We've nothing to hide," company CEO Eugene Kaspersky said in statement on Monday.
Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab is still "evaluating contractors" to conduct the independent review, according to a tweet from Eugene Kaspersky. But it'll take place by the first quarter of next year.
In addition to the code review, the independent party will also examine the company's software updates and how the products detect malicious threats.
The move comes amidst media reports claiming that Russian spies used the company's antivirus software in 2015 to steal classified files from the U.S. National Security Agency.
However, the company's CEO has called all the allegations false, and argued that the media reports are largely based on anonymous sources.
"If there was any evidence that we've been knowingly involved in cyber-espionage, we'd be toast! No ifs or buts—it'd be game over," Eugene Kaspersky wrote in a blog post last week.
Nevertheless, the US Department of Homeland Security last month ordered federal agencies to stop using the company's software. Retailers including Best Buy have also dropped Kaspersky Lab products from store shelves.
In response, Kaspersky Lab said on Monday it would establish three "Transparency Centers" across the globe to help customers and government stakeholders address any security issues with the company's products. These centers will allow trusted partners to review Kaspersky Lab's source code. All three centers will be open in Asia, Europe and the U.S. by 2020.
Kaspersky Lab is also increasing bug bounty rewards for severe vulnerabilities found in its software up to $100,000.
The company is one of the most popular antivirus providers in the world and has about 400 million users. But it might not be easy for Kaspersky Lab to restore trust for customers in the US.
"I feel leery about using Kaspersky products," said Robert Graham, CEO of U.S. cyber security firm Errata Security. Some of his concerns have nothing to do with the company's source code, but its relationship with the Russian government.
"The Russian government has the ability to put pressure on Kaspersky. That doesn't exist with other antivirus products," Graham said.
It's also unclear if the code review will address a key point in the accussations: whether Kaspersky Lab products were ever used to search for top secret US files.
"They weren't accused of having problems with the code," Graham said. "It's what the code looked for. That was the problem."
It's been a point made by other experts, who say Kaspersky Lab should actually turn over company data over what its servers were communicating to its antivirus products.
Kaspersky Lab has denied any involvement with Russian state-sponsored hacking. "As I've said before," wrote Eugene Kaspersky last month, "it's not popular to be Russian right now in some countries, but we cannot change our roots."