US blacklists Russian cybersecurity guard Kaspersky

Kaspersky was added to the so-called March 25 entity list from the FCC, says Bloomberg. It is the first Russian company on the list, which is mainly dominated by Chinese companies.

Once a company is listed on the stock exchange, businesses and federal entities in the United States are no longer permitted to trade with it, unless otherwise made by the government.

Huawei and DJI are also in the game

Two Chinese companies, China Telecom and China Mobile international USA, were also added to the list of entities. However, it is not uncommon for Chinese companies to make the list. Also well-known brands such as Huawei and DJI are on it.

FCC Commissioner Brandan Carr said the move would help keep the United States safe. “This will help secure our networks against threats from state-sponsored Chinese and Russian entities. They are looking for ways to spy on us and harm American interests.”

Kaspersky not happy

Kaspersky says in a declaration that the decision was not based on a technical assessment, but that it was made solely for political considerations. “Kaspersky provides cutting-edge products and services to its customers around the world to protect them against all forms of cyber threats. The company has made it clear that it is not affiliated with any government, including that of Russia.”

This is very reminiscent of a statement made by the company two weeks ago. He did this after the German intelligence service, the BSI, informed to uninstall Kaspersky software. The BSI then warned that Russian computer manufacturers could be involved in the dispute both voluntarily and against their will.

400 million users

According to Bloomberg, the company has more than 400 million customers, including some 240,000 businesses. Kaspersky calls calling itself “one of the largest private cybersecurity companies in the world”. It also supplies various Governments security software, including Russian†

Until a few years ago, the Dutch government also used Kaspersky products. In 2018, however, the national government decided to stop doing so. Ferd Grapperhaus, then Minister of Justice and Security, then said that there is a risk that the Russian government could spy on the Netherlands. At that time, no concrete case of espionage had been identified.