Britain warns govt agencies not to use software from Russian company

LONDON: Britain’s cybersecurity agency has told government departments not to use antivirus software from Moscow-based firm Kaspersky Lab amid concerns about Russian snooping.

Ciaran Martin, head of the National Cyber Security Centre, said “Russia is acting against the UK’s national interest in cyberspace.”

In a letter dated Friday to civil service chiefs, he said Russia seeks “to target UK central government and the UK’s critical national infrastructure.” He advised that“a Russia-based provider should never be used” for systems that deal with issues related to national security.

The agency said it’s not advising the public at large against using Kaspersky’s popular antivirus products.

Martin said British authorities are holding talks with Kasper sky about developing checks to prevent the “transfer of UK data to the Russian state.”

Kasper sky has denied wrongdoing and says it doesn’t assist Russian cyberespionage efforts.

In September, the US government barred federal agencies from using Kaspersky products because of concerns about the company’s ties to the Kremlin and Russian spy operations.

News reports have since linked Kaspersky software to an alleged theft of cybersecurity information from the US National Security Agency.

Britain has issued increasingly strong warnings about Russia’s online activity.

Martin said last month that Russian hackers had targeted the UK’ s media, telecommunications and energy sectors in the past year.