The European Parliament calls on Europe to review the software and telecommunications equipment used by state institutions and regional institutions, approving a new resolution on cyber security. This step, according to the European Parliament, will help to ensure the exclusion of potentially unsafe products and devices from the tools of state bodies.
The European Parliament ranked Kaspersky Lab software as potentially unsafe or even malware, as
reported by Vedomosti. In order to decide on this definition, a vote was taken. 476 members of the European Parliament supported the resolution, while 151 people voted “against”, 36 parliamentarians abstained. The resolution, formulated after the vote, will be sent to the European Council, the EU agencies, the NATO Secretary General and the national parliaments of countries belonging to the European Union.
However, the document is a recommendation, despite the rather strict wording. It is possible that in the near future, the European Commission will begin a tighter control of technological foreign companies.
“The decision of the European Parliament encourages cybercrime in Europe. We have defended the EU for 20 years, and our cooperation with law enforcement has led to numerous arrests of cybercriminals. As a result of today's unprecedented and not the only evidence of the decision of the European Parliament, we are forced to freeze our cooperation with all law enforcement agencies, including Europol and the NoMoreRansom project, ”wrote Evgeny Kaspersky, the founder and general director of the Laboratory, in his Instagram.
NoMoreRansom is a project created by Kaspersky Lab in collaboration with MAfee, the European Union Police Service Europol and the Netherlands Police. NoMoreRansom members decrypt data that was previously encrypted by ransomware viruses.
The representative of the "Laboratory" said that the decision to cease cooperation with partners against cybercrime was not easy. According to him, the point about the harmfulness of the company's programs is based on false statements.
It is worth recalling that last year the US government banned the use of Kaspersky Lab software because of suspicions of the company in connection with the Russian special services, despite the fact that the director of the company denied all the allegations.
Further in May of this year, the Government of the Netherlands refused from Kaspersky Lab products. Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhouse explained that the Russian government planned to conduct a whole series of cyber attacks, including in the Netherlands.
Kaspersky Lab is ready to analyze the source code of its products by independent experts, who agree to provide access to the sources. For this, the company plans to open a “transparency center” in Switzerland.