Australia has become the latest country to ban the installation of security software from Russian company Kaspersky, citing national security concerns.
“After considering the threat and risk analysis, I have determined that the use of Kaspersky Lab, Inc.’s products and web services by Australian government agencies poses an unacceptable security risk to the Australian government, networks and data. Sabotage conduct ” said Stephanie Foster PSM, secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“I have also taken into consideration the critical need for critical infrastructure and strong policy signals to other Australian governments regarding unacceptable security risks associated with the use of Kaspersky Lab, Inc..”
Foster further states that entities are responsible for managing risks arising from the broad collection of Kaspersky user data and for managing risks arising from exposure of data in special directions from foreign governments that are inconsistent with Australian law. I pointed out.
Under the new government-issued direction (002-2025), the agency will not only remove all existing instances by April 1, 2025, but also to Kaspersky’s products and web services on government systems and devices. It is prohibited to install.
That said, agencies can seek exemptions from using Kaspersky’s software for what is called “legitimate business reasons” and ensure that the appropriate mitigation is in place.
Such exemptions must be time-limited and restricted to meeting requirements for the purposes of meeting compliance and law enforcement functions.
The move follows a US move in late June 2024 that banned Kaspersky from selling software and products domestically or issuing product updates to existing customers. The company left the US market in mid-July 2024.
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