The US government has announced its plan to ban the Moscow-based firm Kaspersky Lab from selling its anti-virus software and cybersecurity products in the United States. This Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters “Russia has shown it has the capacity — and even more than that, the intent — to exploit Russian companies like Kaspersky to collect and weaponize the personal information of Americans, and that’s why we are compelled to take the action we are taking today,”.
Kaspersky denies any such “engagement in activities that threaten US national security” in a statement and said that the US Department of Commerce has taken this step based on the “present geopolitical climate and theoretical concerns”. As per the US Commerce Department, the ban will come into full effect from Sept 29th and till then company can continue providing some services in the United States, including certain updates, so that the users get the time to find alternatives.
— Kaspersky (@kaspersky) June 20, 2024
Some of the very serious allegations have been made about Kaspersky by the Commerce Department like it can install malicious software on U.S. customers and its employees can even send data from US to Russia. The company says that any 3rd party that the government trusts could have tested the security of the Kaspersky products though it did not happen. As per the statement made by the company, it will keep on defending itself.
