On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission added the Russian Kaspersky Lab to its “target list” and labeled cybersecurity companies as “unacceptable” national security risks for the United States. This is the first time an agency has blacklisted a Russian company.
With this decision, U.S. companies will use a subsidy from the FCC’s $ 8 billion Universal Services Fund to telecommunications in rural areas and poorly serviced communities to purchase products and services from Kaspersky Lab. We can no longer support deployment. The other seven organizations on the list are all from China, with the most notable organizations being Huawei and ZTE.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the designation protects the network from “threats posed by Chinese and Russian state support groups that engage in espionage and otherwise harm the interests of the United States.” Said it would be useful to. The other two companies that the FCC added to the list on Friday were China Telecom and China Mobile, both of which were subject to previous restrictions.
“This decision is not based on the company’s ongoing technical evaluation of Kaspersky Lab products, but for political reasons,” Kaspersky Lab said after the announcement. The company said it was ready to work with the FCC and other US government agencies to address regulatory concerns.
This movement is partially symbolic. Prior to Friday’s announcement, a 2017 order by former President Donald Trump had already banned the use of Kaspersky Lab software by the federal government. The FCC does not cite Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine for this latest move.
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