The US Department of Commerce is preparing tougher measures to ban antivirus programs and software from Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity company. About it Friday reports the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing his sources in the Biden administration.
The development of interdiction measures became possible after the introduction of a new law that allows you to ban foreign technology if it poses a threat to US national security.
The WSJ writes that the measures against Kaspersky Lab could be a trial balloon, then applied against the Chinese technology companies which control it, in particular the social network TikTok.
The ban on using Kaspersky Lab software on computers of the federal government and its contractors was introduced under the Trump administration. Last year, the White House stepped up measures to protect the federal government from Kaspersky Lab products amid fears of Russian cyberattacks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A U.S. Department of Commerce spokesperson told the WSJ that the agency was working to revise online safety rules known as the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) rules. These rules are designed to protect American internet users from a range of threats, including espionage and disinformation, that can come from internet technology and services based in potentially hostile countries such as Russia and China. The rules, among other legal measures, will allow for a complete ban on certain apps.
WSJ sources said the Commerce Department’s new ICTS rules have not yet been adopted, but discussions on the subject have gained momentum.
Kaspersky Lab products, including antivirus software, are used by hundreds of millions of customers worldwide, including in the United States.
Earlier, according to The Eastern Herald , Washington considers possible measures against Kaspersky Lab.
Part of the challenge of the software ban is that it is difficult to assess how widely Kaspersky Lab products have been deployed on the US network. Additionally, restricting it too broadly can lead to unintended consequences, such as compromising the functionality of other software, WSJ sources say.
The ICTS rules also allow other federal agencies to refer potential cases to the Commerce Department for review. The Justice Department’s Homeland Security Division referred the “Kaspersky case” to the Commerce Department in 2021, but until recently the matter was largely unexplored, according to a WSJ source familiar with the matter.
In August 2022, 18 Republican lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, criticizing her office for “non-compliance with ICTS rules.”
