USA bans Kaspersky software
Business with the Russian IT security company Kaspersky will become illegal in the USA, as will the use of existing software. The ban should take effect quickly
Kaspersky is to be discontinued in the USA.
(Image: Daniel AJ Sokolov)
The US government bans Kaspersky. "Russia has shown that it has the ability and intent to exploit Russian companies like Kaspersky to collect and weaponize Americans' personal data," said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Thursday, "So we are compelled to take the actions we are taking today." These measures are a comprehensive ban on doing business with the Russian IT security firm Kaspersky.
The ban on new contracts will take effect 30 days after the official announcement, i.e. in July. This applies to all business with Kaspersky, including services provided by American companies to or for the Russian company. A further 70 days later, at the end of September or beginning of October, downloads and updates as well as the transfer of Kaspersky licenses in the USA will also become illegal. Without daily updates, antivirus software is of little use.
Lately, US authorities and services have repeatedly tried to assess the risk posed by Kaspersky. As is usual and necessary for IT security software, Kaspersky's programs have an in-depth insight into computer systems, can analyze every file and precisely track the behavior of users and their software. The security software can also trigger alarms, block the installation of updates and, under certain circumstances, delete data.
US federal authorities have not been allowed to use Kaspersky since 2017. At that time, allegations surfaced that Kaspersky had leaked screenshots of a private computer from the USA and passed them on to Russian services. The user in question was an employee of the US intelligence agency NSA and was working on NSA malware at home. The fact that security software responds to this is basically a good thing. What bothered the US was that the information was passed on to Russian intelligence services. Nevertheless, US state and local authorities and operators of critical infrastructure are still customers of the Russian provider to this day. It has not yet issued a statement on the new ban. In the past, the company has denied "inappropriate" connections to any government. This assurance is no longer sufficient for the US government.
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