Exclusive: U.S. Government Can't Get Controversial Kaspersky Lab Software Off Its Networks
Source: The Daily Beast
The law says American agencies must eliminate the use of Kaspersky Lab software by October. U.S. officials say thats impossibleits embedded too deep in our infrastructure.
ANDREW DESIDERIO
KEVIN POULSEN
05.23.18 10:05 AM ET
Federal agencies are so far unable to comply with a law banning Kaspersky Lab software from U.S. government networks by October, The Daily Beast has learned. Multiple divisions of the U.S. government are confronting the reality that code written by the Moscow-based security company is embedded deep within American infrastructure, in routers, firewalls, and other hardwareand nobody is certain how to get rid of it.
Its messy, and its going to take way longer than a year, said one U.S. official. Congress didnt give anyone money to replace these devices, and the budget had no wiggle-room to begin with.
At issue is a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) enacted last December that requires the government to fully purge itself of any hardware, software, or services developed or provided, in whole or in part, by Kaspersky Lab. The law was a dramatic expansion of an earlier DHS directive that only outlawed Kaspersky-branded products. Both measures came after months of saber rattling by the U.S., which has grown increasingly anxious about Kasperskys presence in federal networks in the wake of Russias 2016 election interference campaign.
Americas intelligence chiefs have, too, issued public warnings about Kaspersky software. When asked by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at an intelligence committee hearing last year whether they would be comfortable using Kaspersky software on their computers, all six of the top intelligence leadersfrom the Central Intelligence Agency chief to the director of National Intelligencehad the same answer: No.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-us-government-cant-get-controversial-kaspersky-lab-software-off-its-networks?ref=home
YessirAtsaFact
(2,064 posts)questionseverything
(9,654 posts)counted openly and transparently in full view of the public
and a tight chain of custody for the totals
because....
no voting machines were ever checked
... Desi Doyen said on 10/17/2017 @ 4:00 pm PT...
Hi, Karen --- It was actually DHS, specifically acting undersecretary Jeanette Manfra, who acknowledged that DHS had not conducted a forensic examination on any individual voting machine during her testimony at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on June 21, 2017. The relevant segment starts at about 58 minutes:
https://www.c-span.org/v...ted-russia-2016-election
Here's Brad's article on it: http://bradblog.com/?p=12192. More on it can also be found here.
Desi
quartz007
(1,216 posts)Honduras has all paper ballots and extreme security on who votes. They use a national voter ID card. And it is a so called Banana Republic!
RKP5637
(67,108 posts)dalton99a
(81,488 posts)Calista241
(5,586 posts)PearliePoo2
(7,768 posts)I keep getting this mental image of disgusting ticks, burrowed in, sucking blood and spreading disease.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)byronius
(7,394 posts)erronis
(15,257 posts)WTF?
Maybe because the Kaspersky AV was actually working? (I know the mole is just channeling command-and-control.)
mopinko
(70,103 posts)jesus h christ on a pogo stick.
think of the economic stimulation that will result, and just do it. dont waste f'ing money trying to clean up old computers.
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)noneof_theabove
(410 posts)A close friend, part of our Linux User Group in South Texas is retired Navy.
A $15 would end up costing about $150 when you put the human time for 15 steps of signatures over typically 6 months.
See why things don't get done, the user has a dead mouse that will be 3-6 months to replace.
Now we get to the real meat.
The DoD is still running mostly on Windows XP because it takes 10 years for the OS and most software to get full approval.
BTW, my friend has some high levels of clearance, working databases and crypto, so don't pass this as "fake news".
mopinko
(70,103 posts)and i actually know a fair about how it all works. i have a nephew who recently retired from a high army post.
yeah, i know they are idiots there. did you ever see the hbo movie 'the pentagon wars'? basically a true, and thoroughly ridiculous story about a new tank, the abrams iirc.
but all the more reason to demand that our government get up to god damned steam.
dembotoz
(16,804 posts)they actually helped me
C_U_L8R
(45,002 posts)Unless of course, these dopes were welcoming a hacking invasion
B2G
(9,766 posts)You can't just yank this shit out in less than a year.
Management: 'Have it done by October!'
IT: "Lol. You're cute'.
Midnight Writer
(21,765 posts)TomVilmer
(1,832 posts)One from USA to keep KGB out of your PC, and one from Russia to keep NSA out. Hopefully they can both help to keep China down, and UK and France AND North Korea and all other nosy countries.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,112 posts)say shit like this!
Midnight Writer
(21,765 posts)or much of anything else. But I have been around a long time and have a pretty good memory.
TomVilmer
(1,832 posts)The Promis conspiracy is not taken seriously outside of nasty groups like the LaRouche cult. There might be something in it, but nothing has been proved.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,316 posts)BobTheSubgenius
(11,563 posts)It may or may not have ties to the Kremlin, or be co-opted by the Kremlin, but why take a chance?
By the time you realize it's time to do something, it's too late...way too late.
Louis1895
(768 posts)Kaspersky anti-virus was a free program in a package of apps I bought for my Mac. It was highly rated in the reviews I read. I have tried to remove it but there is one thing that I cannot remove, no matter what I try.
Sneaky little dotards!
haele
(12,654 posts)Our company used it to check down deep and remove all traces of KES (Karpinski End Point) from the company computers. We now have Avast instead, and I rather hate Avast .
Haele
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,857 posts)Several months back the Geek Squad (I buy my computers at Best Buy and use Geek Squad. It's excellent for people like me who aren't very tech savvy) said they were no longer supporting Kaspersky and when it was time to renew to get something else. So I did. I now have something called Webroot Secure Anywhere and all I can say is I haven't had any problems with viruses. So far, at least.
Kaspersky was quite good for a long time.
I suppose the problem with all the government computers is the extent to which they are vastly more complex than my lap top and my desk top, which is why they can't just install a new security system and then take out the old one as one done with my computers.
miyazaki
(2,243 posts)OneBro
(1,159 posts)Kapersky: We should sell software to the American government so we can control their systems from the comfort of our living rooms.
Putin: Why would the US government buy software from a Russian company instead of an American company like, say, Microsoft?
Kapersky: The American people elect George W. Bush. Sort of. Twice.
Putin: . . .
Kapersky . . .
Putin . . .
Kapersky. . .
Putin: You think they would actually . . . pay for it, too?
Kapersky. (smiling)
rockfordfile
(8,704 posts)"Moscow-based security company"
Kablooie
(18,634 posts)They will try even harder in November.
meow2u3
(24,764 posts)Back up every single server in rotation, taking each one offline; erase the hard drives, reinstall the OSes, restore backups without the Kaspersky Lab malware, and then install an American security suite.
It'll take quite a bit of time, but it'll be far better than russkie software with built-in malware backdoors.
I'm just scratching the surface, but I'm sure you get the idea of what I'm talking about.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Who thought intentionally putting Russian software into our computer systems was a good idea?
melm00se
(4,992 posts)install Kaspersky software?