WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States has received no assurances that Kaspersky Lab's source code can be trusted, White House cybersecurity coordinator Rob Joyce told reporters on Friday after the company offered its code to the US government in a bid to dispel any concerns.
"That's a piece of software that auto-updates every day, so the source code we're shown today can change tomorrow and there's no assurances you can trust that update," Joyce said when asked whether concerns were alleviated after the company offered to give its source code to the US government.
Asked whether the decision to ban Kaspersky's products in US government offices was final, Joyce said the Department of Homeland Security had made the decision.
"And there's a process in that," Joyce added.
Last week, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke ordered all US federal departments and agencies to stop using Kaspersky Lab products within the next 90 days, saying that Kaspersky products represented a threat to security. This step appears to be a continuation of US allegations that Moscow had interfered in the US presidential election, which Russia officials have repeatedly denied, stressing that the claims remain unsubstantiated.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said discriminatory steps against the Kaspersky Lab cast a shadow on the image of the United States as a reliable partner and represent "a manifestation of unfair competition."
Kaspersky Lab said that it remained committed to the US market and was planning to open three new offices in the United States in 2018.
