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posted by martyb on Thursday September 14 2017, @09:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the prudence-or-paranoia? dept.

The Washington Post is reporting U.S. moves to ban Kaspersky software in federal agencies amid concerns of Russian espionage:

Acting Homeland Security secretary Elaine Duke ordered that Kaspersky Lab software be barred from federal civilian government networks, giving agencies a timeline to get rid of it, according to several officials familiar with the plan who were not authorized to speak publicly about it. Duke ordered the scrub on the grounds that the company has connections to the Russian government and its software poses a security risk.

[...] "The risk that the Russian government, whether acting on its own or in collaboration with Kaspersky, could capitalize on access provided by Kaspersky products to compromise federal information and information systems directly implicates U.S. national security."

[...] The directive comes months after the federal General Services Administration, the agency in charge of government purchasing, removed Kaspersky from its list of approved vendors. In doing so, the GSA suggested a vulnerability exists in Kaspersky that could give the Kremlin backdoor access to the systems the company protects.

Someone that is in a position to know all about it tells me that Kaspersky doesn't detect malware created by the Russian Business Network. My fear is that if I named that someone, the RBN will give that someone a bad hair day.

[Ed. addition follows]

The full text of the DHS notice is available at https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/09/13/dhs-statement-issuance-binding-operational-directive-17-01.

Previously:
FBI Reportedly Advising Companies to Ditch Kaspersky Apps.


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by turgid on Thursday September 14 2017, @11:03AM

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 14 2017, @11:03AM (#567730) Journal

    That nice Mr Putin would like to offer free security software of finest Russian quality to all good citizens, businesses and institutions of formerly enemy countries as a gesture of goodwill and reconciliation. Rest assured that nice Mr Putin will be looking out for your safety and security 24 hours a day, every day from his secure nuclear bunker under the Kremlin. He encourages you to remove the duct tape from your webcams.

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