On Wednesday, a U.S. judge dismissed two lawsuits filed by Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, which demanded that the United States government rescind a ban on the use of its products on U.S. government computers, maintaining that its software reduces cybersecurity risks.
“These defensive actions may very well have adverse consequences for some third-parties,” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her Wednesday ruling. “But that does not make them unconstitutional.”
Kaspersky Lab’s lawsuit, filed last year in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenged a directive imposed by the Department of Homeland Security which ordered all federal agencies to stop using the antivirus. The directive was the result of American concerns that the Moscow-based cyber security firm may have ties to Russian intelligence.
Kaspersky also challenged a Congress-passed law codifying the ban. The company further said in a statement that it was disappointed with the ruling and would “vigorously pursue our appeal rights.”
“Kaspersky Lab maintains that these actions were the product of unconstitutional agency and legislative processes and unfairly targeted the company without any meaningful fact-finding,” they said.
According to Judge Kollar-Kotelly, however, the U.S. government’s action was not aimed at punishing Kaspersky Lab but at eliminating “a perceived risk to the nation’s cybersecurity.”
She added that the dismissal was made based on Kaspersky’s failure to prove that Congress violated constitutional prohibitions on legislation which “determines guilt and inflicts punishment” without the protections of a judicial trial.
Kaspersky Lab has been accused of performing espionage for the Kremlin, which has affected its sales globally. A Dutch minister said this month they were taking precautions and phasing out Kaspersky software from central-government systems.
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