Kaspersky software just got yeeted out of the USA

Doing business with the Russian IT security company Kaspersky is now illegal in the USA. Using their existing software is so far still possible.

The US government decided to ban Kaspersky. According to US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Russia has shown that it has the ability and the intention to exploit Russian companies like Kaspersky to collect and weaponize personal data from Americans. The U.S. seems not to take any chances. This ban means no more business with Kaspersky.

The ban on new contracts starts 30 days after the official announcement, so from July on. This includes all business with Kaspersky, even services provided by American companies for the Russian company. And then, 70 days later, on September 29 and updating Kaspersky software will also be illegal in the USA. Without those daily updates, antivirus software is pretty much useless.

For years, US agencies have been trying to figure out just how risky Kaspersky is. Like any IT security software, Kaspersky's programs dig deep into computer systems, can analyze every file, track user behavior, and block updates or delete data. Basically, they know everything about your computer.

Already since 2017, US federal agencies have not been allowed to use Kaspersky, because it was found that Kaspersky had allegedly sent screenshots from a private computer in the US to Russian services. The user was an NSA employee working on NSA malware at home. The fact that security software flagged this is not the issue; it's the sharing of info with Russian intelligence that freaked everyone out. Even though some state and local government agencies and critical infrastructure operators still use Kaspersky, this new ban will shut that down.

If sellers and resellers break the rules, the Commerce Department is gonna slap them with some serious fines.

Kaspersky's competitors are probably having a field day with this ban in the U.S. Expect them to roll out all kinds of ads and promotions, saying stuff like, "Ditch the risky Russian software and switch to us, the safer choice!" They'll be scrambling to scoop up all those former Kaspersky users faster than you can say cybersecurity.

Kaspersky is based in Moscow but has offices in 31 countries. They serve over 400 million users and 270,000 corporate clients across 200+ countries. Kaspersky commented it intends to pursue "all legally available options" to fight the ban, and denied it engaged in any activity that threatened US security.