The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) just added the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky to the list of companies you may want to keep an eye on. The FCC says that Kaspersky poses "unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons."
Kaspersky joins just a handful of companies and services that were on the Covered List previously. This list was formed following the passing of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019.
For Kaspersky, this now also means that they are now prohibited from receiving support through the Universal Service Fund set up by the FCC. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr issued a couple of short statements about adding Kaspersky and a couple of China-based tech companies to the Covered List.
"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 out networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm America's interests."
"Their addition, as well as Kaspersky Labs, will help secure out networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm America's interests."
Kaspersky is disappointed with the decision by the Federal Communications Commission 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.
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. As there has been no public evidence to otherwise justify those actions since 2017, and the FCC announcement specifically refers to the Department of Homeland Security’s 2017 determination as the basis for today’s decision, Kaspersky believes today’s expansion of such prohibition on entities that receive FCC telecommunication-related subsidies is similarly unsubstantiated and is a response to the geopolitical climate rather than a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity of Kaspersky’s products and services.
Kaspersky will continue to assure its partners and customers on the quality and integrity of its products, and remains ready to cooperate with U.S. government agencies to address the FCC’s and any other regulatory agency’s concerns.
Kaspersky provides industry leading products and services to customers around the world to protect them from all types of cyberthreats, and it has stated clearly that it doesn’t have any ties with any government, including Russia’s. The company believes that transparency and the continued implementation of concrete measures to demonstrate its enduring commitment to integrity and trustworthiness to its customers is paramount.
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. As there has been no public evidence to otherwise justify those actions since 2017, and the FCC announcement specifically refers to the Department of Homeland Security’s 2017 determination as the basis for today’s decision, Kaspersky believes today’s expansion of such prohibition on entities that receive FCC telecommunication-related subsidies is similarly unsubstantiated and is a response to the geopolitical climate rather than a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity of Kaspersky’s products and services.
Kaspersky will continue to assure its partners and customers on the quality and integrity of its products, and remains ready to cooperate with U.S. government agencies to address the FCC’s and any other regulatory agency’s concerns.
Kaspersky provides industry leading products and services to customers around the world to protect them from all types of cyberthreats, and it has stated clearly that it doesn’t have any ties with any government, including Russia’s. The company believes that transparency and the continued implementation of concrete measures to demonstrate its enduring commitment to integrity and trustworthiness to its customers is paramount.
Other companies included on the FCC's Covered List include major tech companies like Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation. These companies, and a few others, were added roughly one year ago in March 2021.
They relocated customer data to Switzerland and allow multiple agencies from around the world to keep them in check but their HQ is still in Moscow, no number of safeguards is going to stop them when they want to use it.