The Biden administration will take the unprecedented step of banning U.S. companies and citizens from using software made by a major Russian cybersecurity firm, citing national security concerns, Commerce Secretary Gina announced on Thursday.
The move draws on relatively new Commerce Department authority that builds on executive orders signed by Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump banning the use of software products by Russian companies., Kaspersky Lab, Within the United States.
Thursday’s announcement came after CNN reported in April that the Biden administration was preparing to issue an order banning the use of Kaspersky software by U.S. companies and citizens.
“After a very thorough investigation, I am announcing that we are taking steps to prohibit Kaspersky Lab and its affiliates, subsidiaries and parent companies from providing cybersecurity and antivirus software anywhere in the United States,” Raimondo told reporters.
“We are also adding three Kaspersky Lab companies to the Entity List, which means those companies will no longer be able to sell or update their software in the United States,” she added. “Russia has demonstrated the capability, and even the intent, to use Russian companies like Kaspersky Lab to collect and weaponize Americans’ personal information, which is why we are compelled to take the action we are taking today.”
This is the US government’s latest move to block American citizens from using popular technology that it deems a national security risk.
CNN has reached out to Kaspersky for comment.
U.S. government agencies are already banned from using Kaspersky Lab software, but there is no precedent for banning the software from private companies.
U.S. officials have long alleged that the Russian government could try to force Kaspersky Lab to hand over data or use the company’s antivirus software to hack and spy on Americans, charges the lab strongly denies.
Raimondo reiterated those concerns in her announcement Thursday.
“We have considered all our options, but ultimately determined that given the Russian government’s ongoing cyber attack capabilities and ability to affect Kaspersky’s operations, we must take the significant step of a total ban to protect American people and their personal data,” she told reporters.
Commerce Department officials said Thursday that the department’s final decision to implement the ban did not identify specific instances in which the Russian government sought to exploit Kaspersky or use the company’s software to collect data.
“But we believe it is more than just a theoretical threat,” the official added, noting that the Commerce Department’s new authority allows it to act aggressively even without a specific case.
Founded in Moscow in 1997, Kaspersky Lab has grown to become one of the world’s most successful antivirus software companies, alongside US rivals McAfee and Symantec. Recognized as one of the top companies in the cybersecurity industry, Kaspersky Lab researchers are known for analyzing cybercrime threats affecting everyday users, as well as hacking operations suspected to be carried out by various governments, including Russia, the US and Israel.
Some of the speculation and suspicions by U.S. authorities about Russian companies center around Eugene Kaspersky, the charismatic computer expert who co-founded the Kaspersky Lab in Moscow in 1997.
Eugene Kaspersky studied cryptography at a KGB-backed university, a fact that some U.S. lawmakers like to point out as they try to link the company to the Russian government. Kaspersky Lab denies that it has “any unethical connections or affiliations with any government, including Russia.” After graduating, Kaspersky worked as a software engineer at a Russian Defense Ministry research lab, which the company said was “the limit of his military experience.”
Kaspersky laments that his company has become a victim of geopolitical tensions between the West and Russia, which have only intensified since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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