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US Agency Revokes All State Discounts For Kaspersky Products (thebaltimorepost.com)
The U.S. General Services Administration has removed Kapersky Lab from its list of approved vendors for federal systems, which also eliminates the discounts it previously offered to state governments. Long-time Slashdot reader Rick Zeman writes:
"The agency's statement suggested a vulnerability exists in Kaspersky that could give the Russian government backdoor access to the systems it protects, though they offered no explanation or evidence of it," reports the Washington Post. Kaspersky, of course, denies this, offering their source code up for U.S. Government review... "Three current and former defense contractors told The Post that they knew of no specific warnings circulated about Kaspersky in recent years, but it has become an unwritten rule at the Pentagon not to include Kaspersky as a potential vendor on new projects."
"The lack of information from the GSA underscores a disconnect between local officials and the federal government about cybersecurity," the Post reports, adding that "the GSA's move on July 11 has left state and local governments to speculate about the risks of sticking with the company or abandoning taxpayer-funded contracts, sometimes at great cost."
The Post also quotes a cybersecurity expert at a prominent think tank -- the Center for Strategic and International Studies -- who believes that "it's difficult, if not impossible" for a company like Kaspersky to be headquartered in Moscow "if you don't cooperate with the government and the intelligence services."
"The lack of information from the GSA underscores a disconnect between local officials and the federal government about cybersecurity," the Post reports, adding that "the GSA's move on July 11 has left state and local governments to speculate about the risks of sticking with the company or abandoning taxpayer-funded contracts, sometimes at great cost."
The Post also quotes a cybersecurity expert at a prominent think tank -- the Center for Strategic and International Studies -- who believes that "it's difficult, if not impossible" for a company like Kaspersky to be headquartered in Moscow "if you don't cooperate with the government and the intelligence services."
Software built by Russian companies is backdoored by Russian spooks.
Software built by American companies is backdoored by American spooks.
Software built by Chinese companies is backdoored by Chinese spooks.
Does this surprise anyone at all?
Russia, Wichita has been unable to find and prosecute a single one of the hackers on its soil for all the internet crime and ransom ware and "patriotic" DDOS attacks upon Baltic states, Georgia & the Ukraine, has jailed one of Kaspersky's developers for treason.
In Putin's Russia, it's impossible for a company like Kaspersky to NOT be used by the FSB
Getting subverted by criminal means does not count as "allowing". It counts as having gotten compromised. Anyways, nobody in their right mind will use RSA products for security at this time. They have screwed up far too often in the last few years. (Yes, I am aware their stuff still gets used. Do not expect a working security mind-set anywhere where that is the case....)
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Yeah, good thing Hillary wasn't elected. She wouldn't have been a proper doormat for Putin.