The U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday announced a Final Determination that bans Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab’s U.S. subsidiary from directly or indirectly selling its security software in the United States or to U.S. persons, citing “national security risk.”
Citing the Russian government’s offensive cyber capabilities and capacity to influence or direct Kaspersky’s operations that could not be addressed through mitigation measures short of a total prohibition
The U.S. Department of Commerce in a press release said, “Kaspersky will generally no longer be able to, among other activities, sell its software within the United States or provide updates to software already in use.”
The agency also added three entities—AO Kaspersky Lab, OOO Kaspersky Group (Russia), and Kaspersky Labs Limited (United Kingdom)—to the Entity List believed to be a national security concern for their cooperation with Russian military and intelligence authorities in support of the Russian Government’s cyber intelligence objectives.
The U.S. Department of Commerce imposed the ‘first of its kind’ ban on Kaspersky software, arguing that the company’s Russian origins threaten U.S. national security and users’ privacy.
Starting July 20, the U.S. government will ban Kaspersky from selling its software products to individual customers and businesses. However, existing users who are using Kaspersky’s antivirus will be eligible to receive software and security updates until September 29 this year.
“That means your software and services will degrade. That’s why I strongly recommend that you immediately find an alternative to Kaspersky,” Raimpondo added.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has “strongly encouraged” Kaspersky users to quickly transition to new vendors within 100 days to limit exposure of their personal or other sensitive data to threat actors due to a potential lack of cybersecurity coverage.
However, individuals and businesses who choose to continue using existing Kaspersky products and services will not face legal penalties under the Final Determination.
Responding to the latest move from the U.S. government, Kaspersky said the Department of Commerce’s decision “unfairly ignores” the significant transparency measures that the company implemented to demonstrate its enduring commitment to integrity and trustworthiness.
Kaspersky is a multinational company with offices in 31 countries, servicing users in over 200 countries and territories. It provides cybersecurity and anti-virus products and services to over 400 million users and 270,000 corporate clients around the world.
