(TheConservativeTimes.org) – A total ban has been issued by the Biden Administration on Russian-backed cybersecurity software in the United States. They have placed the ban because the software is allegedly influenced by the Russian government, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Russia’s cybersecurity software is Kaspersky Lab and it has been a concern of the United States government since 2017. Officials say that under Russian law, their government has complete access to all the data of their customers.
Gina Raimondo, the Commerce Secretary, said, “Russia has shown it has the capacity, and even more than that, the intent to exploit Russian companies like Kaspersky to collect and weaponize the personal information of Americans.”
Raimondo said that this software has raised national security concerns for a long time and it has been banned from many government systems. “While we’ve been exploring every option at our disposal, we ultimately decided that given the Russian government’s continued offensive cyber capabilities and capacity to influence Kaspersky’s operations, we had to take the significant measure of a full prohibition if we’re going to protect Americans and their personal data,” Raimondo said.
Kaspersky is now prohibited from entering into any new agreements inside the United States under the new ban. Raimondo said that companies and businesses that use this software already will not be breaking the law but that they won’t be able to update or upgrade the software.
Said Raimondo, “I would encourage you in the strongest possible terms to immediately stop using that software and switch to an alternative in order to protect yourself, your data, and your family.”
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