Kaspersky files new claims against US government alleging unconstitutional ban by President Trump

Kaspersky Lab has fired another legal salvo at the US government over its decision to formally ban its security products from the computers and networks of all federal government organisations. That decision had followed claims that the company has been compromised by Russia's security services.

Kaspersky filed new claims this week with the US District Court for Columbia, suggesting that the US government had violated the constitutional ban on ‘bills of attainder'. This prohibits Congress "from enacting laws which impose individualised deprivations of life, liberty, and property and inflict punishment on individuals and corporations without a judicial trial".

Last September, the US Department of Homeland Security signed an order requiring the removal of all Kaspersky software from US government agencies.

That was followed up in December, with a decree signed by President Trump banning the use of Kaspersky Lab products in all US government organisations.

Kaspersky filed suit just a week later, reiterating that it did not have the kind of ties with Russian intelligence suggested by many reports, nor did it allow its software to be used by Russia's security services to conduct deep scans of Kaspersky users' PCs for intelligence purposes. So far, the evidence offered to support such claims has been largely circumstantial and inconclusive.

And Kaspersky has reiterated that the company and its infrastructure is neither willingly nor unwilling used by Russian intelligence. In a new statement, Kaspersky repeated its stance: "Kaspersky Lab believes that these provisions violate the US constitution by specifically and unfairly singling out the company for legislative punishment, based on vague and unsubstantiated allegations without any basis in fact.

"No evidence has been presented of any wrongdoing by the company, or of any misuse of its products. We continue to offer our full cooperation to government agencies and others with cybersecurity concerns collaboratively and openly through our Global Transparency Initiative."

Kaspersky has repeatedly criticised the way that US government officials have handled the situation. In 2017, the company claimed that when it vowed to investigate these allegations, the government was simply not interested.

"Kaspersky Lab believed in good faith that DHS [US Department of Homeland Security] would take the company up on its offer to engage on these issues and hear from the company before taking any adverse action," said the firm.

"However, there was no subsequent communication from DHS to Kaspersky Lab until the notification regarding the issuance of Binding Operational Directive 17-01 on September 13, 2017."