agencies gleaned through their platform with the Russian government.Īgencies were already under mandate from the Homeland Security Department to remove all Kaspersky products from their systems by October 2017, but the acquisition rule extends that to contractors providing services to federal agencies. officials also expressed concern that Russian law would compel the company to share sensitive cybersecurity information on U.S. intelligence community that Kaspersky executives-some of whom are former Russian intelligence officers-have close ties to Russian government officials.

Legislators enacted the law in response to concerns from the U.S. The federal agencies that lead the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council-the Defense Department, General Services Administration and NASA-will publish a final rule Tuesday to the Federal Register outlining how agencies should abide by a provision in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act restricting the use of Kaspersky products. As of Tuesday, government agencies-civilian and defense-have an official, final rule prohibiting them from using cybersecurity products provided by or using software made by Russia-based Kaspersky Lab.