in the US, a person familiar with the matter said, citing the firm’s large US customers including critical infrastructure providers and state and local governments.
It also shows the Biden administration is harnessing a powerful new authority that allows it to ban or restrict transactions between US firms and internet, telecom and tech companies from “foreign adversary” nations like Russia and China.Former President Donald Trump used them to try to bar Americans from using Chinese social media platforms TikTok and WeChat, but federal courts halted the moves.
If the Commerce Department adds foreign units of Kaspersky to the entity list that purchase significant inputs from the United States, the move could crimp its supply chain. If it only adds the Russian entity, the impact will be largely reputational.Kaspersky has long been in regulators’ crosshairs.