U.S. Senate voted to ban Russian Kaspersky Lab software


nsnbc : The U.S. Senate voted on Monday to ban Russian cyber-security company Kaspersky Lab software from U.S. government systems over suspected ties to Russian security services.

Kaspersky_Moscow_LogoLast week the administration of President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Kaspersky products within three months. The administration cited concerns that Russian authorities such as intelligence services could infiltrate government networks using Kaspersky anti-virus products.

The directive follows the Trump administration’s removal of Kaspersky from the list of approved U.S. state agencies’ software vendors this summer. The latest ban prohibits the use of “any hardware, software, or services developed or provided” by Kaspersky Lab across the U.S. government. It was passed in a 89-8 vote.

The author of the amendment, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, said the bill works to protects national security. “I’m very pleased that the Senate has acted in a bipartisan way on my amendment that removes a real vulnerability to our national security,” she said.

All major cyber-security firms will cooperate with authorities in their respective countries. Symantec / Norton admitted to nsnbc international last year that the company would, for example, cooperate with the FBI in anti-terrorism cases if there was a legal basis for this. nsnbc international editor-in-chief Christof Lehmann contacted Symantec / Norton in 2016 to clarify whether or not the company would – for example – help the FBI compromise a journalist’s or newspaper’s computer in – anti-terrorism cases – the reply was “ambiguous.

Kaspersky Lab – for its part – has repeatedly attracted national and international attention in cases involving the Russian federal security service FSB and “hacker groups”. Eugene Kaspersky, who founded the company in 1997, has denied ties to Russian security and intelligence agencies since suspicions. However, Eugene admits that he graduated from a KGB-sponsored school and worked for the Soviet Defense Ministry.

Moreover, Kaspersky said he had repeatedly offered to testify before the U.S. Congress to address any questions about his firm. He also wrote an opinion piece published by Forbes in which he stated that he is willing to provide the company’s source code for an official audit. Kaspersky cited “geopolitical turbulence” as the likely reason why U.S. Homeland Security banned his company’s products from federal IT systems. “As I’ve said before, it’s not popular to be Russian right now in some countries, but we cannot change our roots, and frankly, having these roots do not make us guilty.”

CeBIT Australia / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CeBIT Australia / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Little Eugene’s limited hangout?

Critics of Kaspersky and skeptics would welcome the hearing and Kaspersky’s testimony – especially because Eugene’s “admission” that he studied at a “KGB-sponsored school” looks terribly like a “limited hangout”.  Ironically, Kaspersky was linked to both Russian and U.S. “services” when a scandal broke in January 2017. Sergei Mikhailov, a top-cybersecurity specialist working at Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) was arrested in January, allegedly on suspicion of leaking information to U.S. intelligence services.

The FSB reportedly believes that Sergei Mikhailov passed highly sensitive information on to members of the US intelligence community. This allegedly includes information about Vladimir Fomenko and his server rental company King Servers. The American company ThreatConnect, in September 2016, described King Servers as “an information nexus” that was used by hackers suspected of working for Russian state security in cyber attacks.

A total of four individuals have been arrested in connection the case. If found guilty, Mikhailov could face charges of treason. The others who have been charged are Ruslan Stoyanov, the head of cyber crime investigations at Kaspersky Labs, and Dmitry Dokuchaev, who worked in the same FSB unit as Mikhailov. The name of the fourth person has not yet been released.

Mikhailov and the circle around him may, according to some sources be linked to circles within the hacker community Anonymous. The hacker community has gained some notoriety over the last years for leaking private emails and other information of high-profile individuals and for hacking or disabling or defacing high-profile websites including government websites.

The hacker community has also leaked information of individuals with close ties to the Kremlin. Anonymous has also campaigned against the head of State of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) a.k.a. North Korea and other targets that “would seem to be targets of interest” for US intelligence services.

Hacker_Cyber crime_SP_OCIn December 2013 the group leaked an advance copy of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s New year’s speech. In May 2014 it leaked emails revealing the political work of a company owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin including purported evidence that he sponsors Russia’s alleged “Internet Troll Factory.”

In 2014, the group released correspondence between Eurasianist philosopher Alexander Dugin, the head of Tsargrad TV, and Konstantin Malofeyev, the TV channel’s board chairman. In 2015, the “anonymous” hackers published emails and text messages stolen from Timur Prokopenko, a Kremlin official.

Prokopenko had allegedly been tasked with stymying the anti-Putin opposition. Also allegedly targeted were Alexander Zharkov, the head of Russia’s State censorship organization, as well as Natalya Timakova, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s press secretary.

In 2016 the group also targeted Dmitry Kiselyov, known by the opposition and abroad by the nickname  “the Kremlin’s chief propagandist,” as well as  Aram Gabrelyanov, the owner of several pro-Kremlin tabloids and news outlets.

Non of Anonymous leaks resulted in indictments or criminal cases. The leaked content was generally more embarrassing than incriminating and provided “political munition” rather than material that could lead to the disclosure of criminal activities. If anything, the leaks would help understand oligarchical structures and machinations and violate the right to privacy of the targeted individuals.

However, there has been widespread speculation how Anonymous could succeed at getting access to materials that in some cases were highly secured, while they in other cases were on unprotected servers. It was the group’s capacity to access secured data that led many to believe that it had government backing or links to intelligence services. Others speculated that a group like Anonymous, due to its very nature and the nature of its activities could easily be infiltrated and used / abused by members of intelligence communities from any number of countries.

Whether or not the arrest of FSB top-cyber security expert Sergei Mikhailov, of Ruslan Stoyanov, the head of cyber crime investigations at Kaspersky Labs, and Dmitry Dokuchaev, who worked in the same FSB unit as Mikhailov, plus the mysterious person whose name has not been released can shed more light on whether Russia was a target, a source, or both remains to be seen. Maybe “someone” at “Anonymous” knows, and maybe some at Anonymous don’t know. It also remains to be see whether the charges against the four will stick. What is sure is that the Senate vote – rightfully or not – legally banned Kaspersky Lab in an unequivocal 89 – 8 vote.

F/AK – nsnbc 19.09.2017



Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/09/19/u-s-senate-voted-to-ban-russian-kaspersky-lab-software/

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