On Wednesday, the US Federal court judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected a lawsuit by Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab against the ban on the use it solution by government agencies.

The ban on security firm Kaspersky imposed by the US Department of Homeland security started in September 2017.

In December, Kaspersky Lab sued the U.S. Government over product ban, it’s appeal was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, just a week after the US President Donald Trump signed a bill that bans the use of Kaspersky Lab products and services in federal agencies.

Section 1634 of the bill prohibits the use of security software and services provided by security giant, the ban will start from October 1, 2018.

Below the details of the ban included in the section 1634 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018.

“SEC. 1634. Prohibition on use of products and services developed or provided by Kaspersky Lab.

(a) Prohibition.—No department, agency, organization, or other element of the Federal Government may use, whether directly or through work with or on behalf of another department, agency, organization, or element of the Federal Government, any hardware, software, or services developed or provided, in whole or in part, by—

          (1) Kaspersky Lab (or any successor entity);
          (2) any entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with Kaspersky Lab; or
          (3) any entity of which Kaspersky Lab has majority ownership.

(b) Effective date.—The prohibition in subsection (a) shall take effect on October 1, 2018.”

US officials believe Russian intelligence could use the Kaspersky software to spy on the systems running it.

Back to the present, Federal court judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected the lawsuit, reaffirming the right of the government to choose its providers to protect the security of its infrastructure.

The ban “does not inflict ‘punishment’ on Kaspersky Lab,” Kollar-Kotelly said in her ruling.

“It eliminates a perceived risk to the nation’s cybersecurity and, in so doing, has the secondary effect of foreclosing one small source of revenue for a large multinational corporation,” said Kollar-Kotelly.

The judge rejected Kaspersky’s complaint that US Government had illegally denied the firm’s “right” to sell a product, she also remarked that the ban is legal and will remain in place.

The impact on Kaspersky was severe, other governments expressed their concerns over the possibility to hack their solutions as part of cyber espionage campaigns.

Many companies in the US already stopped using Kaspersky software, and most major stores have stopped selling it.

While the private company does not report its earnings, sales internationally have also reportedly been hurt.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Kaspersky, hacking)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]