UK government bans all Russian anti-virus software from Secret-rated systems

The United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre has effectively banned the use of Russian anti-virus products from government departments and revealed it is trying to “prevent the transfer of UK data to the Russian state” from Kaspersky Labs software.

A guidance note published last Friday and distributed to permanent secretaries of government departments, addressed “The issue of supply chain risk in cloud-based products, including anti-virus (AV) software” and explained “how departments should approach the issue of foreign ownership of AV suppliers.”