Kaspersky Lab joins Chinese companies Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp as well as China Mobile and China Telecom on the list of entities considered threats to U.S. national security.
Kaspersky agent of Putin or victim of an irrational climate?
Kaspersky has already been in the crosshairs of the US administration for a long time. In 2017, the company had to face several accusations. President Trump banned the use of its antivirus products on federal government machines that same year. This sanction led Kaspersky Lab to file a complaint against the US authorities. In recent weeks, the Germans have also put pressure on the antivirus vendor. The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) issued a warning to Kaspersky users following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warning that the company could “conduct offensive operations itself, be forced against its will to attack target systems or be spied on as a victim of a cyber operation without its knowledge or as a tool for attacks against its own customers.” For Kaspersky, these decisions were “taken for political reasons.” The company adds that these sanctions are “a response to the geopolitical climate rather than a comprehensive assessment of the integrity of Kaspersky’s products and services.” So, is the Russian editor indeed a victim of the irrational climate that has led to the refusal in recent days to play Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker simply because its author is a Russian composer who died in 1893?
