[News] US senators call for Kaspersky ban

[StyM]

http://fudzilla.com/news/43999-us-se...-kaspersky-ban

US senators have called for a ban on Moscow-based cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab's products from use by the military.

Senators are apparently scared that the company is vulnerable to "Russian government influence". The news comes a day after the FBI interviewed several of its US employees as part of a probe into its operations, although the two things might not be connected.

The Untouchables visited the homes of Kaspersky employees in multiple US cities for a quiet word. No search warrants were served.

Kaspersky Lab confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that FBI agents have had "brief interactions" with some of its US employees - discussions that the company described as "due diligence" chats.

However a defence spending policy bill passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, prohibits the US Defence Department from using Kaspersky software platforms because the company "might be vulnerable to Russian government influence".

Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who amended the spending bill to include Kaspersky, said in a statement that "ties between Kaspersky Lab and the Kremlin are alarming".

A consensus in Congress and among Trump administration officials believed Kaspersky "cannot be trusted to protect critical infrastructure, particularly computer systems vital to our nation?s security," Shaheen said.

The bill would need to pass the full Senate and House of Representatives and be signed by President Donald (Prince of Orange) Trump to become law.

Last month, senior US intelligence officials said in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee that they were reviewing government use of software from Kaspersky Lab.

The US press seems to be hinting that the probe into Kaspersky Lab is somehow related to an investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian election meddling and collusion with associates of then Republican Party candidate Donald Trump. We are not sure how that works.

Kaspersky founder and Chief Executive Eugene Kaspersky had said during a question and answer session on Reddit that he would be willing to appear before the Senate to dispel any concerns about his company's products.

Kaspersky's anti-virus software is popular in the United States and around the world, though US officials have long been suspicious that the company may have ties to Russian intelligence agencies.

Kaspersky has said repeatedly it has no ties to any government and that allegations about its products being used to support Russian espionage are unfounded.

The company said, "Kaspersky Lab believes it is completely unacceptable that the company is being unjustly accused without any hard evidence to back up these false allegations." It said that in its 20-year history, the company has abided by "the highest ethical business practices".

[EternityZX9]

What a crock of e!

I certainly hope we don't ban this anti-virus program. I've been using Kaspersky based anti-virus systems going on 9+ years. Never had a single virus since using their stuff - well worth the money.

[Sparky]

Stupid politicians being stupid. They've blown this whole Russian hacking nonsense way beyond absurd proportions.

[AliG]

Stupid politicians being stupid. They've blown this whole Russian hacking nonsense way beyond absurd proportions.

I wouldn't call it nonsense; there's a tremendous amount of supporting evidence that Russia influenced the election.

I agree that banning an anti-virus software is probably meaningless politcal blather though.

[StAndrew]

They're not banning it, just banning its use by the military.

[Particle]

They're not banning it, just banning its use by the military.

It's like nobody even read the first quoted sentence.

[NEOAethyr]

It's like nobody even read the first quoted sentence.

Exactly...

[bearcatrp]

So you guys say its not possible to put a sniffer in the software and send back data?

[Sparky]

No. We're saying just because the company is based in Russia doesn't mean they are colluding with the Russian government to steal US data.

Better to show proof of this happening than to just do a kneejerk reaction of "DARN RUSSIANS!!!!" and demanding banning stuff. Basically declaring them guilty unless proven innocent, heck not even that, but more like "guilty because I hate you."

If he called for a probe to find out if it was indeed sniffing data etc then that would be different, and I would have no problem with that. Heck, they really should be careful with that sort of thing regardless of where the company is based.

[EternityZX9]

It's like nobody even read the first quoted sentence.

Alright you caught me red-handed. I missed that first sentence...lol. Although, phew...it's just for the military not consumers.

On a side note though...I mean, , I'd hope our military uses something better than Kaspersky...is it too cliche to expect our government to be able to design something in-house??

[Sparky]

LOL if they did it would only work half the time and cost 100x more than it should have

[EternityZX9]

LOL if they did it would only work half the time and cost 100x more than it should have

Touche

[SinOfLiberty]

Why Kasperskii over Norton?

[Particle]

Kaspersky and Bitdefender are currently the industry leaders with regards to detection technology. They are Russian and Romanian respectively.

[bearcatrp]

No. We're saying just because the company is based in Russia doesn't mean they are colluding with the Russian government to steal US data.

Better to show proof of this happening than to just do a kneejerk reaction of "DARN RUSSIANS!!!!" and demanding banning stuff. Basically declaring them guilty unless proven innocent, heck not even that, but more like "guilty because I hate you."

If he called for a probe to find out if it was indeed sniffing data etc then that would be different, and I would have no problem with that. Heck, they really should be careful with that sort of thing regardless of where the company is based.

Good explanation. You would think the dumb farts in washington would have picked it apart already. But like you said, knee jerk reaction. Know many folks who use it and are happy with it.

[alpha0ne]

Kaspersky calls for ban on US senators.......................................... ......

And the world would be a better (and more honest) place