Amid fears of Russian spying and so-called back doors, one of the largest retailers in the US has removed all Kaspersky software solutions from store shelves, citing ‚too many unanswered questions‘.
Russia-based Kaspersky Labs has been in the news quite often lately. In July earlier this year, we reported that the US government was severing ties with the firm and removing its name from two lists of approved vendors, due to fears that it could – allegedly having ties to the Russian government through its founder Eugene Kaspersky – be hiding so-called backdoors within the software that could compromise national security.
Even though the company offered to allow security analysts to audit its software solutions, this has done little to alleviate these fears, and subsequently, the FBI announced that it recommended that companies, in particular within the energy sector, remove these products from their mission-critical systems. It further specified that if any organization utilized Industrial Control (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, that it recommended that other security solutions be used instead.
Following these recommendations, and consumer fears surrounding this controversy, Best Buy has started removing all Kaspersky products from sale within its stores in the US. A report by the Star Tribune noted that the company, after investigating the matter itself, was left with too many ‚unanswered questions‘. This was later confirmed by a spokesperson for the company, who didn’t go into further detail.
Kaspersky noted that it was unfortunate – in the case of the FBI’s recommendations – pointing to future collaborations between the Russian government and the US-based intelligence agency being placed in jeopardy. The CEO of the security research and software solutions firm continues to deny any ties to the Russian government.
Source: Reuters
