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The U.S. authorities herald sanction against 12 executives and fourth-year leaders of the Russia - based cybersecurity giantKaspersky .
In a press release , the Department of the Treasury ’s Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) said it designated the 12 company executives to protect internet users against malicious cyber threats .
“ Today ’s military action against the leadership of Kaspersky Lab underscores our commitment to assure the integrity of our cyber domain and to protect our citizens against malicious cyber threats , ” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson was cite as saying in the military press release . “ The United States will take action where necessary to hold accountable those who would seek to facilitate or otherwise enable these activity . ”
The leaning of approve individuals include several Kaspersky board member , include Andrei Anatolyevich Efremov , who is also Kaspersky ’s chief business growth policeman , and Igor Gennadyevich Chekunov , who serves as the party ’s chief legal officer .
Also sanctioned are Kaspersky ’s global human resource top dog Marina Mikhaylovna Alekseev , the company ’s caput of communications Denis Vladimirovich Zenkin and chief technology officer Anton Mikhaylovich Ivanov , among others .
OFAC mark that it did not sanction Kaspersky , its parent or subsidiary companies , nor the company ’s founder and main executive , Eugene Kaspersky .
A spokesperson for the Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment asking why CEO Kaspersky was not include in the imprimatur . A Kaspersky spokesperson also did not respond to a request for gossip .
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Today ’s endorsement will make it more unmanageable for the diagnose executives to start a raw caller , and it will effectively block up American customers and businesses from devote Kaspersky . sooner this year , the U.S. governmentimposed similar sanctionsagainst spyware Divine Intellexa and its founder .
The sanctions get a day afterthe U.S. government announced a “ first of its variety ” banon the sale of Kaspersky software in the United States , which will go into force on July 20 . Kaspersky will still be able-bodied to provide software update to exist customers , but only until September 29 . After that , U.S. customers who still use Kaspersky wo n’t be capable to get updates , which will render their antivirus computer software outdated and potentially unable to stop the late cybersecurity threats .
Kaspersky ’s representative Sawyer VanHorn said Thursday that the company would challenge the ban .
The U.S. government has for age taken action against Kaspersky due to fright that it could be used as an musical instrument of Russian government influence , to aid it hack U.S. targets or otherwise harm national security system .
In September 2017 , the Trump administrationbanned the use of the company ’s software in government agency . to begin with that twelvemonth , Russian government hackersreportedly stole U.S. class documentsfrom an intelligence service contractor ’s habitation electronic computer , which was at the time run Kaspersky ’s antivirus software system .
