US Moves to Ban Kaspersky Software in Federal Agencies

Megalith

Megalith

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The US government has announced that they are banning the use of Kaspersky software by federal agencies amid concerns the company has ties to state-sponsored cyberespionage activities: federal civilian agencies have been ordered to identify such software on their networks and remove it after 90 days, on the grounds that the company has connections to the Russian government and its software poses a security risk.

The company said in a statement Wednesday that it “doesn’t have inappropriate ties with any government, which is why no credible evidence has been presented publicly by anyone or any organization to back up the false allegations made against the company.” It also said that the Russian law requiring assistance does not apply to the company. “Kaspersky Lab has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage or offensive cyber efforts, and it’s disconcerting that a private company can be considered guilty until proven innocent, due to geopolitical issues,” Kaspersky said.
 
It sure would be nice for the rest of the US public if the gov't would come out and share what exactly has them concerned...is there an issue right now, or are they worried that Kaspersky would issue an update down the road that would start spying on their computers?
 
Mohonri said:
It sure would be nice for the rest of the US public if the gov't would come out and share what exactly has them concerned...is there an issue right now, or are they worried that Kaspersky would issue an update down the road that would start spying on their computers?
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Their concern is that they don't have a backdoor into Kaspersky like they do in made in the USA anti-viruses.
 
Exactly. American govt (NSA) demands backdoors into all security software so they can perform illegal search3es without letting you know they are doing it. I am sure the Russian counterpart is doing the same thing to Kaspersky.
The cure for all that is to use Windows Firewall and Windows Defender.


Oh wait.... :D
 
Haha! I think it's probably wise but I see where the rest of you all are coming from. Nonetheless our Government probably shouldn't be running a foreign owned product that has ties to the Russian Government. Say what you want about the US products but this only makes sense at the end of the day.
 
Rahh said:
Haha! I think it's probably wise but I see where the rest of you all are coming from. Nonetheless our Government probably shouldn't be running a foreign owned product that has ties to the Russian Government. Say what you want about the US products but this only makes sense at the end of the day.
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Why would you not want to trust Russian capitalists?
 
Rahh said:
Haha! I think it's probably wise but I see where the rest of you all are coming from. Nonetheless our Government probably shouldn't be running a foreign owned product that has ties to the Russian Government. Say what you want about the US products but this only makes sense at the end of the day.
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But that's the rub: there is no proof or even evidence that Kaspersky has ties to the Russian government. If you are going to go down that road, then you also need to ban US government agencies from buying routers, servers, printers, etc. from foreign owned companies since they contain a lot of firmware which could be used to spy on them. Actually, Kaspersky's software would be easier to verify as backdoor/spyware free than all that other stuff. But we can't expect the US government to be consistent, can we? sarc And after all, Kaspersky is a Russian company. Can't trust those damn Ruskies. /sarc
 
PaulP said:
But that's the rub: there is no proof or even evidence that Kaspersky has ties to the Russian government. If you are going to go down that road, then you also need to ban US government agencies from buying routers, servers, printers, etc. from foreign owned companies since they contain a lot of firmware which could be used to spy on them. Actually, Kaspersky's software would be easier to verify as backdoor/spyware free than all that other stuff. But we can't expect the US government to be consistent, can we? sarc And after all, Kaspersky is a Russian company. Can't trust those damn Ruskies. /sarc
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So, "If you can't plug every hole in a leaky boat then why bother to plug any".

That it?
 
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DPI said:
So, "If you can't plug every hole in a leaky boat then why bother to plug any".

That it?
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No, it's "don't waste time plugging something that looks like it might become a hole someday, when you have waves sloshing in over the sides".
 
Some of you all have no idea what you are talking about.

Most cloud enabled security platforms can already be used to spy, as they can grab any file they want to analyze in their cloud.

It requires no update to spy. Or, with admin privileges, to disable any system
 
Rahh said:
Haha! I think it's probably wise but I see where the rest of you all are coming from. Nonetheless our Government probably shouldn't be running a foreign owned product that has ties to the Russian Government. Say what you want about the US products but this only makes sense at the end of the day.
Click to expand...

"ties"

what do you consider a "tie"

because some people consider "ties" as literally anything ever that makes you interact with a foreign entity.

Let's start the list for you,

any computing device ever
half of the materials used to build the house and business you work at
every car on the fucking road

CONGRATULATIONS YOU COMMUNIST FASCIST NAZI SOCIALIST CAPITALIST JEW LOVING FREE TIBETTING REFUGE SYMPATHIZING ALT LEFT/RIGHT SWEAT-SHOP LABOR SUPPORTING TYRANT!!!!111111!!!!!! REEEEEE!!!

My point is throwing out accusations like you are what makes this world shit. go put your tinfoil hat on and get off the internet.
 
It bears repeating: even if Kaspersky is telling the truth today, nothing is stopping the FSB from walking in and taking control. You know, without anyone's knowledge.

And remember that this is for federal agencies. The fear of a single, coordinated attack that has catastrophic effects is just as much of a problem as everyday spying.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
It bears repeating: even if Kaspersky is telling the truth today, nothing is stopping the FSB from walking in and taking control. You know, without anyone's knowledge.

And remember that this is for federal agencies. The fear of a single, coordinated attack that has catastrophic effects is just as much of a problem as everyday spying.
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I know the in thing now is to say we're just as bad as Russia and stuff, but...just look at how quickly Putin steps in to control a company or industry when they'd like.

Russia very clearly understands their position; they're not going to compete in a conventional war with the west. However, being able to destabilize just enough with plausible deniability is the perfect strategy for them. It would be idiocy to have their software on critical government systems.
 
You guys should watch the newz more, everything Russian is bad.
 
well when you have an uneducated public/media, and a company with a russian name, and hq in russia, and russia is on your not friends list currently, it's just too easy to destroy a reputation (and business) with no evidence.
 
captaindiptoad said:
"ties"

what do you consider a "tie"

because some people consider "ties" as literally anything ever that makes you interact with a foreign entity.

Let's start the list for you,

any computing device ever
half of the materials used to build the house and business you work at
every car on the fucking road

CONGRATULATIONS YOU COMMUNIST FASCIST NAZI SOCIALIST CAPITALIST JEW LOVING FREE TIBETTING REFUGE SYMPATHIZING ALT LEFT/RIGHT SWEAT-SHOP LABOR SUPPORTING TYRANT!!!!111111!!!!!! REEEEEE!!!

My point is throwing out accusations like you are what makes this world shit. go put your tinfoil hat on and get off the internet.
Click to expand...


Yeahhhhhh, so I take it you're OK with the US using Russian security software for its confidential data? I think you might need to slowly back away from the keyboard.
 
Mackintire said:
Why would you not want to trust Russian capitalists?
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We trusted Kaspersky last month, the month before that and for years before that.
Eugene's employment history is well known, who he worked for has never been a secret.
Why all of a sudden is this an issue, me thinks the dotus is trying to obfuscate his well documented ties with mother Russia.
 
I have a Q. Political discussion is a no-no. How do we discern between what's going on right here from political?
 
umeng2002 said:
The NSA, FBI, CIA, etc. do the same thing... backdoor popular software and OSs; and they justify it because they're "fighting" for America. When "the other guys" do it, it's then deemed immoral.
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While on the one hand it's hypocritical, welcome to the real world? I'm pretty damn left wing, but there are countries and people out there, like Putin, objectively worse than the people in their country.

Or we can just all be nihilists.

giphy.gif

2fr2pAe
 
PaulP said:
But that's the rub: there is no proof or even evidence that Kaspersky has ties to the Russian government. If you are going to go down that road, then you also need to ban US government agencies from buying routers, servers, printers, etc. from foreign owned companies since they contain a lot of firmware which could be used to spy on them. Actually, Kaspersky's software would be easier to verify as backdoor/spyware free than all that other stuff. But we can't expect the US government to be consistent, can we? sarc And after all, Kaspersky is a Russian company. Can't trust those damn Ruskies. /sarc
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And by no evidence we don't mean the fact that Kaspersky employees have accompanied Russian intelligence agents on raids.

Kaspersky provides the FSB with real-time intelligence on the hackers’ location and sends experts to accompany the FSB and Russian police when they conduct raids. That’s what Kaspersky was referring to in the emails, says the person familiar with the system. They weren’t just hacking the hackers; they were banging down the doors.

The project lead was Kaspersky Lab’s chief legal officer, Igor Chekunov, a former policeman and KGB officer. Chekunov is the point man for technical support to the FSB and other Russian agencies, say three people familiar with his role, and that includes gathering identifying data from customers’ computers. One Kaspersky Lab employee who used to ride along with Russian agents on raids was Ruslan Stoyanov, whose technology underpinned the company’s anti-DDoS efforts, says the person familiar with the program. Stoyanov previously worked in the Interior Ministry’s cybercrime unit.
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Yes, those nice former KBG guys running Kapsersky and banging down doors with the FSB couldn't possibly have any ties to the Russian government. Oh, and the Russian government had no reason to arrest one of them for treason for revealing state secrets since they had nothing to do with Russian state secrets in the first place. Nothing to see here, move on. /s

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ab-has-been-working-with-russian-intelligence

EDIT: I'm sure our government does basically the same thing with our tech companies cooperating and installing backdoors for our spying. I actually am using Kaspersky on one of my personal computers (purchased for basically free after rebate). I've got no problem with that. That said, I think it makes sense for the federal government not to use it.
 
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Delicieuxz said:
That, you can know with more certainty than it is possible to have in regards to Russia doing the same.
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But what's your point? Is Russia some benevolent entity that would never take advantage of having software on US government systems? That they have our best interests in mind?

Right, we do shit too, but again, what is the point or action you're trying to impart?
 
Rahh said:
Yeahhhhhh, so I take it you're OK with the US using Russian security software for its confidential data? I think you might need to slowly back away from the keyboard.
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I feel worse about the government using McAfee tbh.
 
TwistedAegis said:
But what's your point? Is Russia some benevolent entity that would never take advantage of having software on US government systems? That they have our best interests in mind?

Right, we do shit too, but again, what is the point or action you're trying to impart?
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The nature of this topic regarding Kaspersky is that it's based on speculation and conjecture that Russia's government could hypothetically have some activity there... but it's not conjecture or conspiracy or hypothesis that the USA government is doing all the things that are hypothesized about in regards to Russia's government. Therefore, sentiments and expressions of 'Russia is extensively doing these things, but the USA is probably doing them, too,' to be truthful, should be reversed to 'the USA is extensively doing these things, but Russia is probably doing them, too' - just maybe not when it comes to Kaspersky.
 
You guys realize that Kaspersky has already offered the U.S. govt the source code to his products, right? It would be a pretty simple matter to go thru that and find any rear orifices. After all source programming code is not written in Russian :D
 
cyberguyz said:
You guys realize that Kaspersky has already offered the U.S. govt the source code to his products, right? It would be a pretty simple matter to go thru that and find any rear orifices. After all source programming code is not written in Russian :D
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You do realize that anti-virus software is a backdoor, right?

And that they can deliver a payload at any time, even unwillingly, at Kremlin gunpoint?
 
IdiotInCharge said:
You do realize that anti-virus software is a backdoor, right?

And that they can deliver a payload at any time, even unwillingly, at Kremlin gunpoint?
Click to expand...

Thank you.

Source code doesn't show intentions. We already know what ANY security product can do.
 
You know when another country does stuff like this, it is ridiculed as paranoid, anti-america, repressive, retrograde, divisive, extreme, militaristic, dictatorial, on and on.
I guess it is all a propaganda game.
Honestly, it makes sense for the US to close shop, and we should do it in most systems as much as possible.
It just makes sense, as much as it does for another country to do the same with US products if we are honest.
 
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