US hits Kaspersky with double whammy, designating 12 top executives
The United States has imposed sanctions on a dozen senior officials at Kaspersky Lab Inc, the US subsidiary of the Russia-based anti-virus software and cybersecurity company, following up on last week’s ban on its products sold in the United States on grounds of ‘national security.’
‘Today’s action against the leadership of Kaspersky Lab underscores our commitment to ensure the integrity of our cyber domain and to protect our citizens against malicious cyber threats, said Treasury Under Secretary Brian Nelson’ in a 21 June press release, the day after the Commerce Department announced its ban.
Treasury said its targets included several of the company’s board directors, together with officials in its ‘Executive Team’ and other top positions in sales and finance. It especially highlighted that the Office of Financial Assets Control (‘OFAC’) ‘has not designated Kaspersky Lab, its parent or subsidiary companies, or its CEO.’
On 20 June, in the first action of its kind, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (‘BIS’) imposed a ban prohibiting Kaspersky Lab, Inc ‘from directly or indirectly providing anti-virus software and cybersecurity products or services in the United States or to U.S. persons.’ It said the prohibition also applies to Kaspersky Lab affiliates, subsidiaries and parent companies.
‘Kaspersky will generally no longer be able to, among other activities, sell its software within the United States or provide updates to software already in use,’ it explained. In addition, BIS added three entities — AO Kaspersky Lab, OOO Kaspersky Group (Russia) and Kaspersky Labs Limited (United Kingdom) — to the Entity List ‘for their cooperation with Russian military and intelligence authorities in support of the Russian Government’s cyber intelligence objectives.’
‘Kaspersky is subject to the jurisdiction, control, or direction of the Russian government, which could exploit the privileged access to obtain sensitive data, including personal information, or bypass cybersecurity measures, thereby posing an unacceptable risk to US national security or the safety and security of US persons,’ State Department Spokesperson Matthew Millers said in his announcement of the Treasury’s new designations.
Kaspersky is a multinational company with offices in 31 countries, servicing users in over 200 countries and territories. It provides cybersecurity and anti-virus products and services to over 400 million users and 270,000 corporate clients globally.
