Much has been said and written about Kaspersky’s links to the Russian government. US agencies have investigated the allegations multiple times and it appears that they’re convinced that the Moscow-based company might have links with the country’s administration. US federal agencies were prohibited from using Kaspersky anti-virus software on their computers back in September and now President Trump has signed a defense policy spending bill which includes a formal ban on using Kaspersky’s anti-virus.
U.S. federal agencies were prohibited from using Kaspersky’s software in September but with the bill now being signed into law, agencies that haven’t switched to other anti-virus products will now absolutely have to do so.
Kaspersky has repeatedly been accused of working with Russian intelligence. The company continues to deny the claims but the allegations have cost it a big chunk of the federal business.
They have attracted the attention of cybersecurity authorities in the UK as well who have also warned their country’s agencies against using Kaspersky anti-virus.
To be clear, Kaspersky has not been banned from conducting business in the United States. It’s still free to sell its product private companies but some of its customers are moving to other alternatives as well.
The company has been trying to rebuild its relationship with the U.S. government over the past few months. It even offered to make its source code available for review but apparently that didn’t help as well. Kaspersky said in a statement that it has serious concerns about this law and is now reviewing its options.