The Federal Communications Commission on Friday determined that security products from Kaspersky posed an “unacceptable risk” to US national security and added the company to a covered list of other firms not eligible for FCC funds.
Huawei and ZTE landed on this particular list in 2021. Eugene Kaspersky, after he attended a KGB-Technical College, having ties to Russian military intelligence, and even having a headquarters based in Moscow, was deemed a threat by the FCC. Kaspersky is already banned from US Government Networks.
“I am pleased that our national security agencies agreed with my assessment that China Mobile and China Telecom appeared to meet the threshold necessary to add these entities to our list,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr stated.
Kaspersky becomes the first security company and first Russian entity to be added to the US security threat list. Companies that appear on the list are ineligible to receive any of the $8 billion available annually under the FCC's Universal Service Fund. The fund supports Telecomm services in rural areas or for low-income consumers or entities like schools, libraries, and hospitals.
Ten days ago, Germany's Federal Office for Information Security, warned companies not to use Kaspersky products. Officials hinted that there is a possibility for the company to be coerced into assisting Russian intelligence services.
The addition comes a month after Russian military forces invaded neighboring Ukraine and indiscriminately unleashed a continuing stream of bombs and other munitions on civilians. Eugene Kaspersky has said denies any connections to the Kremlin.
Image: gguy - stock.adobe.com
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