The sanctions came after the Commerce Department announced it would ban the Moscow-based cybersecurity firm from selling a popular antivirus product in the United States.
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A sign above Kaspersky Lab’s headquarters on Saturday, July 1, 2017, in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
The United States announced sanctions on Friday targeting 12 senior executives at Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, a day after it banned the company from selling its widely used antivirus software, citing “national security” concerns.
The comprehensive sanctions apply to several Kaspersky Lab executives, including its chief operating officer, but not to its CEO or the company itself, according to a Treasury Department statement.
“Today’s actions against Kaspersky Lab officials underscore our commitment to ensuring the integrity of the cyber domain and protecting our citizens from malicious cyber threats,” said Brian Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Counterterrorism and Financial Intelligence.
“The United States will take action as necessary to hold accountable those who facilitate or enable this activity,” he added.
“Unjustified and unfounded”
The Treasury Department’s sanctions come after the Commerce Department announced the previous day that it would ban the Moscow-based cybersecurity firm from selling a popular antivirus product in the United States.
The decision came after an investigation that claimed Kaspersky’s activities in the US posed a “national security threat.”
This would be the first such action taken under an executive order by President Donald Trump that gave the Commerce Department the authority to determine whether certain companies pose a national security risk.
Kaspersky called the Treasury Department’s sanctions “unjustified and unfounded” and argued they stemmed from geopolitical concerns rather than a thorough evaluation of the health of its products and operations. AFP.
“Neither Kaspersky nor its management have any ties to any government,” it added, calling the Treasury Department’s accusations “mere speculation without concrete evidence of a threat to the national security of the United States.”
Responding to the U.S. move, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that “Kaspersky Lab is a highly competitive company at the international level.”
“This is the US side’s favorite tactic for unfair competition. They resort to such tactics every time,” he stressed.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Friday that the company is “subject to the jurisdiction, control, or direction of the Russian government and may use its privileged access to obtain sensitive data.”
In a statement, he stressed that this “poses unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States and the safety and security of Americans.”
Digging deeper
Though headquartered in Moscow, Kaspersky has offices in 31 countries and serves more than 400 million users and 270,000 corporate clients in over 200 countries, according to the Commerce Ministry.
The new sanctions target several senior Kaspersky Lab executives, including longtime chief operating officer Andrei Tikhonov and chief legal officer Igor Chekunov, according to the Treasury Department.
Other individuals sanctioned include Deputy CEO Daniil Borshev, Chief Business Development Officer and Board Member Andrey Efremov, and Head of Corporate Communications Denis Zenkin.
Read more: U.S. and Europe Fear Sanctions Against Kaspersky Lab: WSJ
