The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FFC) has added Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab to its list of entities that pose an “unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.” This is the first time that a Russian company has been added to the list, which already includes Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE.
More Chinese on the list
U.S. companies are prohibited from using federal subsidies through the FCC Universal Service Fund to purchase any products or services from listed companies. In addition to Kaspersky, the FCC has added China Telecom and China Mobile International USA to its list.
Kaspersky responded to the FCC’s move by saying in a statement that the agency’s decision was political, related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that the company “remains ready to cooperate with US government and regulatory agencies.”
Kaspersky on the German blacklist
Recently, the German state office for information security BIS issued an official warning to the citizens of that country and advised them not to use the well-known Russian antivirus solution Kaspersky.
This antivirus, German experts said at the time, is closely connected to the cloud and has very high permissions within the operating system. In order to be regularly updated, it must maintain a permanent encrypted connection with the manufacturer’s servers, which in turn is located in Russia.
Trump’s decree
In 2017, Russian intelligence reportedly used anti-virus software developed by Kaspersky to steal confidential documents from the US National Security Agency (NSA), but the Moscow-based company denied this claim.
Later that year, former President Donald Trump accused Kaspersky of links to the Kremlin and signed a law banning federal agencies from using the company’s products.
