U.S. governamental agencies to stop using Kaspersky products
Homeland Security has recently decided to ban Kaspersky Anti-Virus and all other products made by the company from any computer in use by U.S. government personnel. According to the agency's official statement, all the Executive Branch agencies and departments have a maximum of 30 days to identify any application created by the Russian company on their Macs or PCs and another 60 days to replace the software with a different brand.
The American General Services Administration had already removed Kaspersky from the list of approved federal vendors over three-years ago, however, an outright ban of the brand seems like a bit of an overkill. From what I know, the U.S. officials are concerned about the fact that the security company, which is based in Moscow, can be influenced or even outright compelled by the Russian government to intercept communications transiting their networks. However, the DHS has stated that it will allow the security company to plead its case in a written argument and present any data that could alleviate the security concerns. In an official statement, Kaspersky's representatives denied having any unethical ties or affiliations to any government, including the Russian one.
As far as I'm concerned, a public ban of a private company based on geopolitical issues seems like a very un-American thing to do, especially since there are quite a few other security solutions for Mac on the market and the change could have been done without generating this much buzz.
