Kaspersky Labs Exits US Market Following Biden Administration Ban
Russian cybersecurity giant Kaspersky Labs has announced its departure from the US market after the Biden administration banned the sale and distribution of its software. The company described the decision as "sad and difficult," citing the lack of viable business opportunities in the country.
The move follows a statement by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo last month, highlighting concerns over Moscow's influence on Kaspersky and the potential risks it posed to US infrastructure and services. Kaspersky, which has operated in the US for two decades, has consistently denied these allegations.
"Starting from July 20, 2024, Kaspersky will gradually wind down its US operations and eliminate US-based positions," the company said in a statement. The US website of Kaspersky has already ceased sales of its antivirus and cybersecurity tools, displaying a message that purchases are unavailable for US customers.
This announcement follows the ban on Kaspersky products in the US, a decision driven by fears of Russia's capacity and intent to exploit personal information of Americans. "Kaspersky will generally no longer be able to, among other activities, sell its software within the United States or provide updates to software already in use," the Commerce Department stated.
The ruling, which employs broad powers established during the Trump administration, aims to restrict transactions between US firms and technology companies from "foreign adversary" nations like Russia and China. This includes barring software updates, resales, and licensing of Kaspersky products from September 29, with new business restrictions implemented within 30 days of the announcement. Violators of these restrictions will face fines from the Commerce Department.
Kaspersky, headquartered in Moscow with offices in 31 countries, serves over 400 million users and 270,000 corporate clients across more than 200 countries. In response to the ban, Kaspersky has pledged to explore "all legally available options" to contest the decision, maintaining that it has not engaged in any activities threatening US security.
IT Management | IT Infrastructure & Database | Azure Cloud | DevOps
4 个月Definitely, and this is indeed true. Government and defense services of different countries should not have software written by third party developers, it should be done by internal authorized and verified companies as it is related to the security of the country and it should be the law. But private business should have the right to decide what to use, evaluate and accept these risks. This decision is a pure economic sanctions.
Print Machine Operator at Pactiv Evergreen | IT Professional & Twitch Affiliate | CCNA R&S
4 个月Ok imma weigh in. Banning Kaspersky by far biggest mistake. And it makes NO SENSE whatsoever! Same goes for the TikTok ban. Yall do know that Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, pretty much all your huge conglomerate tech comoanies are spying on you, right? So why ban these? Simply cause they are overseas? Its profiling. No two ways about it. And you cant sit there and say I am wrong because unless you are off the grid entirely with no connection to the internet, you are being watched whether it is foreign or domestic government and companies. If we are going to ban the companys that spy, you might as well scrap the entire Internet and we live in the age before all this tech where you go out and chop a tree down for firewood and we all use open fires to cook our food and brish our teeth with charcoal.
GNU/Linux Expert and Innovation Supporter
4 个月Fortunately, they had banned Kaspersky antivirus otherwise... ...ah, no! ?? https://lnkd.in/d2Jjw7n4 ***
retraité hyper actif chez retraité
4 个月je ne connais pas celui ci mais la tentation de se servir des données et de regarder par dessus l'épaule est grande et je ne me fais pas d'illusion ce qui est vraiment interdit c'est de se faire prendre
Protecting Companies From Cyber Attack | MSP Managing IT Networks | Cyber Essentials | Continuous Monitoring | Cyber Insurance | Managed SOC | IASME Cyber Assurance | Penetration Testing | Managed IT Services
4 个月Everybody should follow ASAP