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US Senators Seek Military Ban on Kaspersky Lab Products Amid FBI Probe (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tussle-continues dept.

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.

7 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. wait... by Frederic54 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the US military is using russian based software? you kidding me?

    --
    "Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
    1. Re:wait... by Presence+Eternal · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's also using silicon fabricated in China and hiring Millenials.

  2. Guilt by being Russian. by SYSS+Mouse · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's all.

    1. Re:Guilt by being Russian. by swb · · Score: 4, Informative

      Maybe some of that, but the difference between that and Cisco being "guilty for being American" because of NSA hijacking shipments and hacking their hardware is what?

      The reality is that a Russian company is far more vulnerable to kinds of influence that would be outright illegal and American companies have the luxury of being able to open resist explicit efforts to compromise their systems and organizations in an actual judicial system.

      Sure, there's all kinds of secret FISA courts and national security leverage the US government can use, but Tim Cook isn't going to the gulag for telling the FBI and NSA to bugger off. A Russian company is far more vulnerable to what really are mafia tactics.

  3. Better idea. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
  4. Re:Russia, the saga continues... by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Other countries have the right to not purchase US products if they are afraid that it would be used against their own personal benefit.

    Countries like Russia with their 3 letter agencies, seems be near a lot missing people who seemed to happen to say something that they don't like.

    While in America, we can bitch and complain about anything, including the President. Without fear of disappearing the next day.

    For the most part and the US isn't at all perfect at it, the US 3 Letter Agencies are actually focused on National Security, not keeping the current political party in good standings.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  5. Embrace it by qbast · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.