‘Unacceptable’ risk
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Friday that the company was subject to the “jurisdiction, control, or direction of the Russian government, which could exploit the privileged access to obtain sensitive data.”
This poses “an unacceptable risk to US national security or the safety and security of US persons,” he added in a statement.
While Kaspersky is headquartered in Moscow, it has offices in 31 countries around the world, serving more than 400 million users and 270,000 corporate clients in more than 200 countries, according to the Commerce Department.
The latest sanctions target many senior leaders at Kaspersky, including long-serving chief operating officer Andrei Tikhonov and chief legal officer Igor Chekunov, the Treasury Department said.
Other individuals sanctioned include the firm’s deputy CEO Daniil Borshchev, chief business development officer and board member Andrei Efremov, and its head of corporate communications, Denis Zenkin.
