The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau designated Russian antivirus software maker AO Kaspersky Lab as a threat to national security, Bloomberg reports.
FCC blacklists Kaspersky over national security concerns
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has added Kaspersky Lab to the country’s entity list, along with China Telecom and China Mobile. The addition of Kaspersky Lab to the entity list is the first time a Russian firm has been included. Only Chinese firms were previously listed on the entity list before its most recent update.
The regulations prohibit foreign companies from buying components and parts from US manufacturers without government approval. The FCC said it added the three firms to the list because they all represented security concerns for the United States.
“I am pleased that our national security agencies agreed with my assessment that China Mobile and China Telecom appeared to meet the threshold necessary to add these entities to our list. Their addition, as well as Kaspersky Labs, 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.”
-Brandan Carr, FCC commissioner.
Is Kaspersky a Russian risk?
In a statement, Kaspersky accused the FCC of making that decision on “political grounds” in response to being put on the list.
“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. Kaspersky will continue to assure its partners and customers on the quality and integrity of its products, and remains ready to cooperate with US government agencies to address the FCC’s and any other regulatory agency’s concerns.”
-Kaspersky
Kaspersky criticized the German government’s decision to ban its products and services, as well as Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security issuing an advisory warning people to avoid using Kaspersky software. In Kaspersky’s filing against the German regulator, the firm claims that the warning was issued on political grounds as well.
The US government has already prohibited the usage of Kaspersky products and services by federal agencies in 2017.
The entity list is an administrative tool that regulators use to regulate the financial system. The US Department of Treasury removed China Telecom and China Mobile from the New York Stock Exchange at the start of last year, so their inclusion on the entity list isn’t a surprise.
