US imposes sanctions on leaders of Russia’s AO Kaspersky Lab | Technology News
Biden administration cites cybersecurity dangers as purpose for slapping sanctions on the Russia-based software program firm.
The United States has slapped sanctions on 12 individuals in senior management roles at Russia’s AO Kaspersky Lab, citing cybersecurity dangers, a day after it introduced plans to bar the sale of the corporate’s antivirus software program over “national security concerns”.
The sanctions imposed on Friday goal its most senior leaders, together with Kaspersky’s long-serving chief working officer, Andrei Tikhonov, and chief authorized officer, Igor Chekunov, the US Department of the Treasury mentioned.
“Today’s action against the leadership of Kaspersky Lab underscores our commitment to ensure the integrity of our cyber domain and to protect our citizens against malicious cyber threats,” Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson mentioned in an announcement.
The sanctions prohibit American corporations or residents from buying and selling or conducting monetary transactions with the sanctioned executives, they usually freeze the executives’ belongings held within the United States.
AO Kaspersky is one of two Russian items of Kaspersky Lab, which was positioned on Washington’s trade-restriction record on Thursday for allegedly cooperating with Russian army intelligence to help Moscow’s cyber-intelligence objectives.
‘Unfair competition’
Kaspersky mentioned in an announcement on Thursday that it’s going to “pursue all legally available options to preserve its current operations and relationships”, including that it “does not engage in activities which threaten US national security”.
The Kremlin has criticised the US choice to ban Kaspersky’s antivirus software program as a approach to take away competitors for American corporations.
“Kaspersky Lab is a company which is very, very competitive on the international level,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed journalists on Friday. “This is a favourite method of unfair competition from the part of the United States. They resort to such tactics every time.”
US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller, nonetheless, mentioned the corporate was topic to the “jurisdiction, control or direction of the Russian government, which could exploit the privileged access to obtain sensitive data”.
The United States is sanctioning 12 executives of AO Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity firm. The firm’s merchandise are susceptible to exploitation by the Russian authorities and pose an unacceptable threat to our nationwide safety and the protection and safety of Americans.
— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) June 21, 2024
