CYBER PATROL Shortly after the Commerce Department banned the use of the company’s software in the United States, Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky announced it was shutting down all of its operations in the U.S. The Moscow-based company officially began to “gradually wind down” its U.S. operations on July 20, according to a statement by Kaspersky. “The company has carefully examined and evaluated the impact of the U.S. legal requirements and made this sad and difficult decision as business opportunities in the country are no longer viable,” stated Kaspersky executives. The U.S. Commerce Department argued the company’s Russian connections posed an “undue or unacceptable risk to U.S. national security or the safety and security.” Aside from Kaspersky’s obligation to abide by Russian law, its software could be exploited to identify sensitive data of U.S. citizens and make it available to Russian government actors, the department said in a decision dated June 14. “The Department of Commerce’s action against Kaspersky Labs was taken to address a substantial threat to U.S. national security,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement to The Associated Press — adding that the action “was not taken lightly,” as it resulted from a thorough investigation and assessment of the risks posed by the products and services the company provides. Kaspersky had previously denied that it is a security threat. In a June 21, response to the Commerce Department’s decision, the company said it cannot deliberately obtain sensitive data on Americans and that its operations and employees in Russia can only access aggregate or statistical data not attributable to a specific person. Enterprises across the globe overwhelmingly cite cybersecurity, along with privacy, as their top tech and telecommunications need, show findings from McKinsey Group. They are also the main reasons for changing tech and telecommunications provider for a range of different product categories, said the research firm. “Cybersecurity and privacy” was cited as the top reason to switch provider of fixed connectivity, communications and collaboration, mobile connectivity and cloud services. It also was ranked in the top three reasons to switch for IoT, business applications and end-user devices. “Vendors with solid cyber capabilities now have the chance to capitalize on this trend by leveraging cross-selling and upselling potential, reshaping product offerings to include premium products with security add-ons, adapting product naming, and upskilling the salesforce,” said McKinsey analysts. Next-gen connectivity was the only category listed by McKinsey in which cybersecurity was not among the top three reasons for switching providers. Interestingly, mobile connectivity was the only category where price was considered a primary reason for vendor switching. Security incidents were cited most often as the incidents organizations’ IT teams most frequently work on, with 51 percent of respondents identifying these as their primary focus, according to a recent survey of IT professionals by Enterprise Strategy Group. Network infrastructure incidents followed not far behind, named among their primary focus by 44 percent. Security Incidents Take Up Most IT Time Kaspersky Shutters U.S. Operations, Banned by Commerce Department What best describes your stage of adoption of SASE? (2019-2023) Most Frequent Type of Incidents Requiring IT Team’s Efforts Source: Enterprise Strategy Group; Viavi Solutions Source: TeleGeography 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Other Waiting on SD-WAN Already implemented at least some elements No plans to adopt In the process of adopting Unfamiliar with SASE Plain to adopt but not yet begun Percentage of Respondents 2019 2021 2023 Security incidents Network infrastructure indicents Software incidents Data incidents User account and access incidents Server performance related incidents Installation and configuration problem Hardware incidents Accurate domain isolation 51% 44% 42% 37% 35% 33% 31% 31% 28% Cybersecurity a Top Reason to Switch Providers 26 CHANNELVISION | JULY - AUGUST 2024
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTg4Njc=