The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Department of Commerce is currently considering taking action against the Russian cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky Lab. Reuters has also reached out for additional comment. The Biden administration is considering taking further action against Kaspersky Lab, the report said.
This isn’t the first time that Kaspersky has been mired in American controversy, Previously, the US banned Kaspersky’s use on a federal level back in 2017 after alleging that Kaspersky Lab had coordinated with Russia’s Federal Security Service to steal classified documents.
US regulators began cracking down hard on Kaspersky last year after Russia invaded Ukraine. However, at the time there was a lot of resistance from other US officials regarding fully banning it. It was eventually added to a federal list of companies that pose a national security risk to the US at around the same time that Germany also came forth with accusations about Kaspersky’s ties to the Kremlin.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, as well as Kaspersky Lab, refused Reuter’s request for any additional comments. However, the US Department of Commerce has said that any additional government enforcement will be narrowly tailored to prevent the use of the software under specific contexts like the use in operating critical network infrastructure.
This recent crackdown follows legislatures’ attempts at introducing a bill that would let the White House ban Tik Tok or any foreign technologies that present a serious enough national security risk. Like Tik Tok, Kaspersky is still available to download and use to this day and has claimed in the past that the restrictions are being made on political grounds.
“(The Department) is committed to fully exercising its authorities to protect Americans’ sensitive data, and to working with Congress in a bipartisan way to adapt to evolving risks”, the department said.