The BSI has been in a dispute with Kaspersky for a long time, as months ago it warned against the use of the Russian software. According to heise.de, Arne Schönbohm, President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), has now renewed the warning at a cyber security conference. He said that if someone uses Kaspersky software in critical infrastructure or in state parliaments, "that is negligent for me".
According to heise.de, Arne Schönbohm, President of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), has renewed the warning against the use of Kaspersky software. At the Potsdam Conference for National Cyber Security at the Hasso Plattner Institute, he said, according to heise.de, "I'm absolutely serious about the Kaspersky product warning." If someone continues to use the group's virus protection software in critical infrastructures or in state parliaments, "that is negligent for me," says Schönbohm.
Sees national security at risk
Schönbohm continued and spoke of a “danger to national security”. In the warning from the BSI at the beginning of March, Schönbohm stated that the necessary trust in a manufacturer of antivirus software depends on its "reliability" and "authentic ability to act". Because of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, Schönbohm sees Kaspersky's independence not only in danger, but as non-existent. In his opinion, the Russian government could take control or force Kaspersky to cooperate and thus spy on Western customers and organizations.
Kaspersky still in court
The Federal Constitutional Court recently rejected a submission by Kaspersky against the BSI and referred it to the courts, as there are other legal channels that have not been used. Kaspersky published a statement by Kaspersky: “Kaspersky sees its legal position strengthened by the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of June 10, 2022. Although the court did not accept the constitutional complaint against the decisions of the Cologne Administrative Court of April 1 and the Münster Higher Administrative Court of April 28 in relation to the warning issued by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), since the main proceedings before the specialized courts has not yet been carried out.
However, the Federal Constitutional Court found that the main court proceedings were not obviously hopeless. According to the Federal Constitutional Court, the administrative court came to the decision on the basis of a merely summary examination. In the main, it has not yet been decided whether the warning from the BSI is permissible. Kaspersky is now considering applying for a detailed examination of the factual and legal situation by the specialist courts.
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About the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is the federal cyber security authority and the creator of secure digitization in Germany. The guiding principle: As the federal cyber security authority, the BSI designs information security in digitization through prevention, detection and reaction for the state, economy and society.