The American government has officially banned Kaspersky software from federal agencies, following reports the company has ties with the Russian government and may be involved in cyber espionage. Given its association with the Russian government, under Russian law, the company is required to comply with its intelligence agency requests.
The US Department of Homeland Security provided a statement to the Washington Post informing the public of its decision making:
“The risk that the Russian government, whether acting on its own or in collaboration with Kaspersky, could capitalize on access provided by Kaspersky products to compromise federal information and information systems directly implicates U.S. national security”.
Conversely, Kaspersky Lab has firmly denied the accusations, stating it “doesn’t have any inappropriate ties with any government”, that there is “no credible evidence” and ultimately that these are “false allegations.”
The company claims it is being treated unfairly, as it has never aided any global government in cyber espionage.
In July, the American government removed Kaspersky from its approved vendors list, following initial speculation it was involved with Russian authorities.
Today’s announcement sees US agencies going one step further and banning the software altogether. Federal agencies have three months to remove the software.
The US Department of Defence has also been banned from using the software following a draft version of the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act. The Washington Post states the Defence Department generally doesn’t use the software, anyhow.
