President Donald Trump signed into law legislation banning the use of Kaspersky Lab software in the U.S. government.
This move caps an effort to put an end to the use of the Russian firm’s antivirus in federal agencies amid concerns Kaspersky had come under the influence of Kremlin.
The ban was included as part of a defense policy spending bill that the president signed, reinforcing a September directive that obliges civilian agencies to remove the Russian antivirus within three months.
“The case against Kaspersky is well-documented and deeply concerning. This law is long overdue,” Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen said, adding that the software posed a “grave risk” to United States national security.
Kaspersky Lab has rejected accusations of having ties with the Russian government, saying that it wouldn’t enable a government to conduct cyber espionage. The company announced in October that it would provide the source code of its software as well as future updates to independent parties for inspection.
U.S. officials welcomed the move but said it would be insufficient.
Kaspersky Lab issued a statement on Tuesday, saying that it still had “serious concerns” about the law as a result of “its geographic-specific approach to cybersecurity.”
The company added that it was assessing its options and will not stop protecting “its customers from cyber threats (while) collaborating globally with the IT security community to fight cybercrime.”
According to Christopher Krebs, a senior cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security, nearly all government agencies had fully removed Kaspersky products from their networks in compliance with the September order.
He added that Kaspersky’s response to the legislation didn’t provide any information whatsoever that would alter the administration’s assessment of Kaspersky Lab.
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