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US Senators Seek Military Ban on Kaspersky Lab Products Amid FBI Probe (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: U.S. senators sought on Wednesday to ban Moscow-based cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab's products from use by the military because of fears the company is vulnerable to "Russian government influence," a day after the FBI interviewed several of its U.S. employees as part of a probe into its operations. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents visited the homes of Kaspersky employees late on Tuesday in multiple U.S. cities, although no search warrants were served, according to two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the FBI probe. Kaspersky Lab confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that FBI agents have had "brief interactions" with some of its U.S. employees, discussions that the company described as "due diligence" chats. The interviews were followed on Wednesday by the release of a defense spending policy bill passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, which would prohibit the U.S. Defense Department from using Kaspersky software platforms because the company "might be vulnerable to Russian government influence," according to a summary of the legislation.
Damn this is getting old. Of course they do intel collection but not any more than our 3 letter agencies.
the US military is using russian based software? you kidding me?
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
That's all.
They write the malware and then try to collect a bounty from vendors for "discovering" it during their "research". About time they crack down on those pricks.
"We'll create the cure; we made the disease"
"Well I know just what you need
I might just have the thing
I know what you'd pay to feel"
I wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten foot Pole. Or even a Ukrainian.
Why not just cut to the heart of the issue and impose a ban on Microsoft products?
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
If Kaspersky is corrupt and letting Russian malware through (and I'm not saying they are, they're probably legit) could it be a little late?
If Kaspersky were rotten and letting Russian Malware through, then that software would already be installed and hooked into the computers. Sure, getting rid of Kaspersky may help new computers not be infected, but if they were bad, then the military is already infiltrated to a degree.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling Russian government influencers!
If the con artist gets wind there's an attempt to stop using Russian-based software because the company might be susceptible to Russian government influence, he'll order them to use it no matter what.
Remember, this is the same guy who was explicitly warned not to bring Michael Flynn into the fold because Flynn was highly susceptible to Russian blackmail. He went ahead and did it anyway, then tried to blame Obama when everything blew up in his face, ignoring the fact it was Obama who fired Flynn for insubordination.
I am using operating system from USA, antivirus from Russia and backup program from China. This way I have achieved multiple, geographically diverse backups for all my important data. I still need to test the recovery process though.
Doing this give foreign governments and militaries the excuse they need to move away from American software assets, such as ClamAV, Windows, McAfee, etc. Does anyone involved not realize the threat this is causing to foreign consumption of American domestic software manufacturing.
Nevermind the fact that the current malware threat facing the globe is caused by NSA/CIA leaked hacking tools, meaning the sensible moratorium is on U.S. AV software, which is FAR more likely to be permitting access of domestically funded and developed malware to foreign and/or domestic systems, whichever they need compromised for their current agenda.
This is the best endorsement for using Kaspersky ie. the US government is/was using them despite their being Russian. Also, lets be real...everyone already knows they are the best but this just about confirms it.
I've seen this with a lot of IT sections of larger companies where quite a few of the professionals actually don't know a lot about virus protection other than the concept that they should be using it. Quite often, if they're not working with virus definitions and protection on an ongoing basis, their knowledge is quite often years old, based on the norms of those years back then. And it's not really their fault. It's just because too many people are compartmentalized in doing exactly what they do, so that often an "expert" has little idea what to do when it comes to dealing with security. And instead of try to learn more, people tend to shame anyone that comes up short on time specific knowledge. It's a weird dilemma that has shown up quite a few times, and everyone I talk to always claims to be an expert in an area that he or she really doesn't know that well. It's no wonder companies are hit so hard when actual threats become active.
Sarbonn's blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/blog
And this saga has been going strong since just before the US election cycle.
Are you STILL making rubles for this?
The 3 letter thing is a myth. The Russian intelligence community has many agencies with 4 or 5 letters, like the SVR RF.
I thought the current li(n)e was that there isn't anything wrong with Russian influence. Or does that only apply to The Holy One?
I think its a great idea to stop working with people who are under the influence of Russia.
Anyone who may be compromised by Russians, say they have a shit load of their money tied in projects with russians banks also should be under severe scrutiny. Ah yea, so that why the President is under investigation
Hey now, how could you not hire someone named Reality Winner?
This is likely a confession based on a lack of actually understanding the adversary.
It says something about north American software and hardware vendors.
Kaspersky have been around for many years, and they've always been in the forefront of AV innovation and product development. Everything that comes out of their PR and their employees public statements seems entirely sincere, honest, and with integrity.
This is just another one of America's campaigns to hurt the Russian image, and it's weak and dishonest move.
Kasperky's products actually protect systems from NSA, CIA, FBI, etc. hacks and they want it gone.
"U.S. senators sought on Wednesday to ban Moscow-based cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab .. because" we've already got backdoors into all the rest.
...than the people writing the malware?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
This is pointless grandstanding.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Out of all the things to bitch about, I feel like to get actual work done, there are certain things we need to get past, and Micro$oft products in government offices is one of them.
GTFOH using buzzfeed news as source for senate bill is insane.
is it "endorsment" or rather a sign of crass iresponsability ?