Department of Homeland Security orders all Kaspersky products to be purged from government within 90 days

No evidence cited - order based on "concerns"

The US Department of Homeland Security last night ordered the removal of all Kaspersky software from US government agencies, claiming that the Russian company is "vulnerable to influence" from Vladimir Putin's government.

The order applies to all federal agencies and demands that they identify all Kaspersky products on their systems within 30 days and discontinue usage within 90 days.

"This action is based on the information security risks presented by the use of Kaspersky products on federal information systems," claimed the Department in its order.

It continued: "Kaspersky anti-virus products and solutions provide broad access to files and elevated privileges on the computers on which the software is installed, which can be exploited by malicious cyber actors to compromise those information systems."

The order was based on concerns "about the ties between certain Kaspersky officials and Russian intelligence and other government agencies, and requirements under Russian law that allow Russian intelligence agencies to request or compel assistance from Kaspersky and to intercept communications transiting Russian networks".

The Department claims that the Russian government could compel Kaspersky to compromise its own products on behalf of Russian intelligence, although there is no evidence either of such a request or of Kaspersky software being mis-used in this or any other way.

Indeed, the Department itself admitted that it didn't have any evidence of compromise. In response to questioning from Reuters, a spokesperson said: "As we evaluated the technology, we decided it was a risk we couldn't accept."

In response, Kaspersky founder Eugene Kaspersky suggested that the US government had decided the company was "guilty until proven innocent, jailed ‘til you clear your name".

The company's official response repeated the assertion that "Kaspersky Lab doesn't have inappropriate ties with any government" and added: "No credible evidence has been presented publicly by anyone or any organisation as the accusations are based on false allegations and inaccurate assumptions, including the claims about Russian regulations and policies impacting the company."