Kaspersky Considered National Security Threat Says US FCC
Russian Cybersecurity titan Kaspersky has been added to the US Federal Communications Commission’s list of bodies it believes to be a threat to the nation’s security. Entities on the list are “deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States” and can not be purchased via subsidies offered through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund.
Kaspersky are the first non-Chinese company to make the list and were added alongside China Telecom and China Mobile International USA.
Kaspersky have responded in a press release, stating that the agency move to list them was in response to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Kaspersky is disappointed with the decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prohibit certain telecommunications-related federal subsidies from being used to purchase Kaspersky products and services. 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.”
In 2017, Kaspersky was used by Russian Intelligence to steal documents from the NSA, however the company denies the allegations. Furthermore, in the same year, Former President Donald Trump banned the use of Kaspersky products by federal agencies and believe that the organization had ties to the Kremlin. Kaspersky addressed the issue in their press release.
“Kaspersky maintains that the US Government’s 2017 prohibitions on federal entities and federal contractors from using Kaspersky products and services were unconstitutional, based on unsubstantiated allegations, and lacked any public evidence of wrongdoing by the company.”
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel stated that the addition of Kaspersky, China Mobile and China Telecom to the list “will help secure our networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm America’s interests.”
It is worth noting that only recently, The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) warned against the use of Kaspersky products, stating that the Russian organization could be used for monitoring or cyber-attacks on behalf of the Russian government.