Renowned cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Labs, with over 400 million users worldwise, was just deemed an “unacceptable security risk” by USA’s Federal Communications Commission.
Kaspersky Labs has become the first Russian tech company to join Huawei, ZTE and recently China Telecom and China Mobile International USA on FCC’s ban list.
What does entering that list entail? Simply put, US businesses are prohibited from investing or purchasing any products or services from companies on the list using federal subsidies.
It’s a way of cutting ties between the U.S. and those companies as they pose a risk to US national security. Authorities sees this as a way to keep at bay “threats posed by Chinese and Russian state backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm America’s interests.”
Of course, this is a huge blow to international companies for whom the U.S. is an excellent market and place to make business. It’s no wonder Kaspersky quickly turned to say that this decision was made on “political grounds” and nothing else:
“Kaspersky is disappointed with the decision by the Federal Communications Commission. This decision is not based on any technical assessment of Kaspersky products — that the company continuously advocates for — but instead is being made on political grounds.”
There is no mistake regarding the political grounds they were referring to as the war in Ukraine continues and more business drop out of Russia every day.
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However, the cybersecurity firm insisted they would remain “ready to cooperate with US government agencies to address the FCC’s and any other regulatory agency’s concerns.”
It must be said that this is not the first time Kaspersky found itself in a tight spot with the U.S. In 2017, they were accused of stealing classified documents from the National Security Agency for the Russian government.
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In fact, it was then that Former President Donald Trump banned the use of their products by federal agencies as once more their ties with Kremlin were under question.
Nonetheless, Kaspersky denied all accusations maintaining there was no grounds for them in the first place.
Recently, the firm found resistance in Germany as well. There, the country’s cybersecurity agency warned Germans that they could be hacked if they didn’t uninstall Kaspersky software on their devices immediately.
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