This advice doesn't come with any evidence of wrongdoing, just a suspicion that Kaspersky might be forced into letting its products become conduits for cyberattacks, a suspicion that Kaspersky vigorously denies. Taking a page from the US government's playbook, Germany's cyber authority has advised citizens and organizations to stop using Kaspersky's products. It's hard to blame Kaspersky for failing to disengage when CloudFlare won't. In addition, CloudFlare has declined requests from Ukraine to stop working with Russian companies. The well-known security company CloudFlare offers a similar service, mostly for Western companies.

It's true that the evidence here doesn’t prove more than a business relationship. Kaspersky’s Business branch offers a service to protect client websites against DDoS attacks and other web-based dangers, and the Russian government is one such client. Critics point out that IP addresses for websites such as the Russian military’s mil.ru point to servers owned by Kaspersky. Kaspersky has recently taken flak for protecting Russian government websites and sites belonging to assets such as TASS, GazPromBank, and the state-owned TV network. Neither the NSA nor any other US agency took further action because it’s not against the law to obtain classified data by accident. When the company’s researchers realized what they had received, they immediately deleted it. Like most antivirus tools, Kaspersky forwards suspicious files to the cloud for analysis, including this sensitive file. An NSA consultant, against protocol, copied the document to his own laptop, which was protected by Kaspersky Anti-Virus. Prior to this policy, in 2017, the Department of Homeland Security issued a Binding Operational Directive instructing federal agencies to discontinue all use of Kaspersky products.Īround that time there was an incident, cited by some as evidence of malfeasance by Kaspersky, involving a secret NSA document. Kaspersky remained fully available to you, me, and any other American individuals. The policy didn’t come with a list of justifications, and it affected only government entities. In September of 2019, the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council put forth a policy forbidding federal agencies to purchase Kaspersky products. This isn’t the first time Kaspersky has come under fire for its Russian origins. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Software.

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