Kapersky Kapers - FCC puts Kaspersky on security threat list, says it poses “unacceptable risk

[Lightwreather]

Summary

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday determined that security products from Kaspersky posed an unacceptable risk to US national security and added the company to a covered list of other firms not eligible for FCC funds.

 

Quotes

Quote

The move adds Kaspersky to the same covered list that Huawei and ZTE landed on in 2021. Besides its Moscow headquarters, the company’s founder, Eugene Kaspersky, attended a KGB-sponsored technical college and has long been accused of having ties to Russian military and intelligence services.

Kaspersky, which was already banned from all US government networks, was one of three firms added to the covered list on Friday. China Mobile and China Telecom were the other two.

“I am pleased that our national security agencies agreed with my assessment that China Mobile and China Telecom appeared to meet the threshold necessary to add these entities to our list,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said. “Their addition, as well as Kaspersky Labs, will help secure our networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm America’s interests.”

In a statement, Kaspersky officials wrote: “Kaspersky is disappointed with the decision by the Federal Communications Commission to prohibit certain telecommunications-related federal subsidies from being used to purchase Kaspersky products and services. This decision is not based on any technical assessment of Kaspersky products – that the company continuously advocates for – but instead is being made on political grounds.”

Ten days ago, Germany's Federal Office for Information Security, warned companies not to use Kaspersky products. Officials hinted that the company could be coerced into into assisting Russian intelligence services.

 

My thoughts

So apparently this is happening. My first thought upon reading this was, "Who even uses Kapersky these days?" You can put your hand down, if you're one of the few. But also the wording is bit unclear to me. Is it getting Banned? Is it just ineligible for funds? Is it only telecomm companied being disallowed? (based on the Kapersky statement) If someone nkows, please make it clear by quoting this. Thanks. I am unsure as to how much of role that Kapersky actually plays in the world economy which again harkens back to my first thoughts. That said, we're going to hav eto wait and see as to how this progress.

 

Sources

ArsTechnica

TheVerge

Bloomberg

Covered List - FCC

FCC Statement

[Valentyn]

Well it makes sense from a security, and political sanction route.
 

Then again I don't trust many mainstream AV system anyway, most seem rather dodgy to say the least.

[Skiiwee29]

9 minutes ago, Valentyn said:

Well it makes sense from a security, and political sanction route.
 

Then again I don't trust many mainstream AV system anyway, most seem rather dodgy to say the least.

Kaspersky has actually been one of the best ones the last 5+ years. Its what I use myself to protect myself and my in-laws. 

[manikyath]

i've enjoyed kaspersky for the time i've worked with it, but at the very least switching to another AV provider is an easy enough nail to slam into a slowly forming coffin. i dont buy the "he went to a state-sponsored college, he MUST be indoctrinated" thing (i went to a state-sponsored college over here, and that didnt do much good for my political beliefs...)

but still.. it's a touchy topic, and you dont really want your AV to be a touchy topic.

[Shreyas1]

I mainly use kaspersky free, idrc if the Russian government knows my info there's literally nothing important there. I'd actually be more worried about the US government having my info since I actually live in the US

[Quackers101]

before I mcafee myself. nevermind, FBI is always there.

one good thing that apple does, sort of.

[brwainer]

1 hour ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

But also the wording is bit unclear to me. Is it getting Banned? Is it just ineligible for funds? Is it only telecomm companied being disallowed?

Kaspersky and others on the “Covered List” are banned from use in any project that is partially or wholly funded by the federal government, or will take advantage of subsidies. Private companies and individuals can still use them as they choose.

 

If you look at the “Covered List” you linked, Kaspersky is the only company there that is only a software vendor. All of the companies have a description of what type of products or services are banned.

[AnonymousGuy]

I think it's important to add that no one has actually shown Kaspersky being malicious...ever.  It's all theoretical.  I think they have a lot of staff outside russia too so I dunno.

 

Not that it matters much...you don't need an AV beyond Defender anyways unless you have retarded parents who open every attachment.

[TetraSky]

At this point, they may as well just get all the US ISPs to block out all traffic coming from Russia and China instead of just adding a handful of entities every week or so to the blocklist.

[Shimejii]

4 hours ago, Skiiwee29 said:

Kaspersky has actually been one of the best ones the last 5+ years. Its what I use myself to protect myself and my in-laws. 

What exactly are you doing that you actually need an anti-virus? Because for most people i just cannot see a point in even bothering with one once you teach them about not going on sites for dumb stuff etc. Basic teaching goes a long way as i just dont see a point in AV with how much stuff is on the web browsers, and some security things with OS

[Skiiwee29]

2 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

What exactly are you doing that you actually need an anti-virus? Because for most people i just cannot see a point in even bothering with one once you teach them about not going on sites for dumb stuff etc. Basic teaching goes a long way as i just dont see a point in AV with how much stuff is on the web browsers, and some security things with OS

oh 100%, I just like that extra layer. I don't do anything sketchy or visit dark web or anything like that. Random torrents here and there though. 

[Arika]

Quote

I think it's important to add that no one has actually shown Kaspersky being malicious...ever.  It's all theoretical.

It's the same argument they used for Huawei and china. No one could prove that huawei phones or network infrastructure was sending data back to the motherland government, still banned them anyway.

 

I see both of these as political motives, not security ones.

[Skiiwee29]

26 minutes ago, Arika S said:

It's the same argument they used for Huawei and china. No one could prove that huawei phones or network infrastructure was sending data back to the motherland government, still banned them anyway.

 

I see both of these as political motives, not security ones.

IIRC for Huawei it was due to a chip on there equipment that was not present on there design white papers. This is why they were blacklisted. 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

[Elijah Kamski]

7 hours ago, J-from-Nucleon said:

Summary

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday determined that security products from Kaspersky posed an unacceptable risk to US national security and added the company to a covered list of other firms not eligible for FCC funds.

 

Quotes

 

My thoughts

So apparently this is happening. My first thought upon reading this was, "Who even uses Kapersky these days?" You can put your hand down, if you're one of the few. But also the wording is bit unclear to me. Is it getting Banned? Is it just ineligible for funds? Is it only telecomm companied being disallowed? (based on the Kapersky statement) If someone nkows, please make it clear by quoting this. Thanks. I am unsure as to how much of role that Kapersky actually plays in the world economy which again harkens back to my first thoughts. That said, we're going to hav eto wait and see as to how this progress.

 

Sources

ArsTechnica

TheVerge

Bloomberg

Covered List - FCC

FCC Statement

Seems more like a political move than a security move really.

[Elijah Kamski]

2 hours ago, Skiiwee29 said:

oh 100%, I just like that extra layer. I don't do anything sketchy or visit dark web or anything like that. Random torrents here and there though. 

The extra layer is always nice in case you miss something crucial.

[xAcid9]

Meh, I remember they even moved their data center to Zurich couple of years ago to show they're not tied to Russian motherland. 

[Quackers101]

4 hours ago, Skiiwee29 said:

IIRC for Huawei it was due to a chip on there equipment that was not present on there design white papers. This is why they were blacklisted.

hello, my "honor".

 

Mrwhosetheboss - Huawei is BACK....But there's a problem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsgMPBR7iXk

[Brooksie359]

8 hours ago, Arika S said:

It's the same argument they used for Huawei and china. No one could prove that huawei phones or network infrastructure was sending data back to the motherland government, still banned them anyway.

 

I see both of these as political motives, not security ones.

Sure but didn't some company shutdown electric charge stations remotely in Russia? I would just be afraid if infrastructure was built with Chinese hardware they could potentially do the same in times of conflict. That being said I don't think they are actively a threat it's just more of a potential type of thing. 

[RejZoR]

It's still funny how people complain about Kaspersky's ties with Russian agencies. Pretending like Avast doesn't have "ties" (it's more like cooperation than actual direct ties) with Czech agencies or ESET with Slovak agencies or AVIRA with German agencies or Norton/McAfee with American agencies or Bitdefender with Romanian agencies. If there is criminal activity involved, they all cooperate with local/regional agencies, be it police or national security agencies like CIA/FBI or their equivalents in whatever country. Why would Kaspersky be any different? Of course they work with Russian police and FSB.

 

The fact Kaspersky attended KGB sponsored "technical college" is kinda stupid argument if you don't know the context of his work. He used to work as IT in USSR Ministry of Defense back in 1989. That was before dissolving of USSR in 1991. In 1992 he wrote his first antivirus. He founded his own company in 1997. That's like saying someone's bad because CIA sponsored their education. Surely they have "spotters" for talented people just like there are for sports.

 

People can think or boycott whatever they want, but it's a bit funny how everyone becomes a sheep instantly and start barking at everything Russian just because it's Russian. Same as back when Kaspersky was booted from US gov systems even though it was Kaspersky that spotted CIA sponsored hack tools on contractor's system via Kaspersky's cloud system which is not much different than cloud systems used by other western companies to honeypot malware and hack tools. But everyone was harping how Kaspersky is spying, ignoring the fact they were the ones who discovered that CIA was spying. On own people most likely.

 

Eugene is highly respected in security circles worldwide and only way he could have done anything malicious would be if he was forced into it and even there, the scope of access is highly limited. Which means, for home users, it's irrelevant. If you like Kaspersky AV, keep using it. They are very good at what they do. If you're infrastructure or government agency, I can understand why one wouldn't want to use it because of possible abuse. Again, not by Eugene, but with Russian state which is all kinds of fucked up at the moment.

[Vishera]

13 hours ago, Arika S said:

It's the same argument they used for Huawei and china. No one could prove that huawei phones or network infrastructure was sending data back to the motherland government, still banned them anyway.

 

I see both of these as political motives, not security ones.

I see it as paranoia.

Considering the situation with China and Russia - the US is probably very paranoid about anything Russian or Chinese.

[Quackers101]

2 hours ago, Vishera said:

I see it as paranoia.

Considering the situation with China and Russia - the US is probably very paranoid about anything Russian or Chinese.

but when should we be paranoid about the US? while not always the same, they are just another super power like those mentioned.

[Vishera]

26 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

but when should we be paranoid about the US? while not always the same, they are just another super power like those mentioned.

It usually happens when relations turn hostile.

[darknessblade]

Kaspery being a Risk, due its Russian origin.

 

Yet The FBI, CIA,NSA demand all USA manufacturers to include a backdoor they can abuse at any time.

 

https://slate.com/technology/2015/09/fbi-cia-nsa-want-backdoor-access-to-data-yet-they-cant-keep-their-own-data-safe.html

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI–Apple_encryption_dispute

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/23/nsa-director-defends-backdoors-into-technology-companies

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/02/12/cia-secretly-bought-global-encryption-provider-built-backdoors-spied-on-100-foreign-governments/

[Elijah Kamski]

12 hours ago, darknessblade said:

Kaspery being a Risk, due its Russian origin.

 

Yet The FBI, CIA,NSA demand all USA manufacturers to include a backdoor they can abuse at any time.

 

https://slate.com/technology/2015/09/fbi-cia-nsa-want-backdoor-access-to-data-yet-they-cant-keep-their-own-data-safe.html

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI–Apple_encryption_dispute

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/23/nsa-director-defends-backdoors-into-technology-companies

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/02/12/cia-secretly-bought-global-encryption-provider-built-backdoors-spied-on-100-foreign-governments/

NSO tech ain't cheap XD

[dekaaizer]

On 3/27/2022 at 8:40 PM, Skiiwee29 said:

IIRC for Huawei it was due to a chip on there equipment that was not present on there design white papers. This is why they were blacklisted. 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies

That article isn't about Huawei at all..... Your claim is blatantly false and you're just spreading misinformation.