U.S. judge dismisses Kaspersky suits to overturn government ban
(Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday dismissed two lawsuits by Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab that sought to overturn bans on the use of the security software maker’s products in U.S. government networks.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab is seen at its headquarters in Moscow, Russia September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo
The company said it would seek to appeal the decision, which leaves in place prohibitions included in a funding bill passed by Congress and an order from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The bans were issued last year in response to allegations by U.S. officials that the company’s software could enable Russian espionage and threaten national security.
“These actions were the product of unconstitutional agency and legislative processes and unfairly targeted the company without any meaningful fact finding,” Kaspersky said in a statement.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington said Kaspersky had failed to show that Congress violated constitutional prohibitions on legislation that “determines guilt and inflicts punishment” without the protections of a judicial trial.
FILE PHOTO: Eugene Kaspersky, Chief Executive of Russia's Kaspersky Lab, looks on during an interview with Reuters in Moscow, Russia October 27, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
She also dismissed the effort to overturn the DHS ban for lack of standing.
Kaspersky Lab and its founder, Eugene Kaspersky, have repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said the company would not help any government with cyber espionage.
The company filed the lawsuits as part of a campaign to refute allegations that it was vulnerable to Kremlin influence, which had prompted the U.S. government bans on its products.
That effort includes plans to open a data center in Switzerland, where the company will analyze suspicious files uncovered on the computers of its tens of millions of customers in the United States and Europe.