GSA pulls Kaspersky off approved vendors list
The General Services Administration reportedly removed Russia-based Kaspersky Lab from its approved list of vendors Tuesday.
The move will add significant difficulty for federal agencies to buy and use the company’s cybersecurity products.
Kaspersky Lab has come under increasing suspicion for possible connections to Russian intelligence agencies.
As CyberScoop’s Patrick O’Neill reports, the action follows U.S. intelligence officials unanimously slamming Kaspersky during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in May. Additionally, a draft Pentagon budget that would ban Kaspersky products was released last month.
In response to the move, a Kaspersky representative told CyberScoop that the company “has no ties to any government, and the company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts.”
“Kaspersky Lab, a private company, seems to be caught in the middle of a geopolitical fight where each side is attempting to use the company as a pawn in their political game,” Kaspersky told CyberScoop on Tuesday.
The GSA move was first reported by Politico.
