In September, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a directive ordering civilian government agencies to remove Kaspersky software from their networks within 90 days. It came a a time when there were increasing concerns that the software could aid Russian espionage and compromise national security.
The plaintiff denies its susceptibility to Kremlin influence and claims it would never aid a government with cyber espionage. The value of Kaspersky’s software sales to the U.S. government is insignificant, less than $54,000, or about 0.03 percent of its U.S. subsidiary’s sales in the United States. But the bigger damage to the plaintiff is that the DHS has harmed Kaspersky Lab’s reputation and its commercial operations. E,g., as a result of the DHS ban, large retailers such as Best Buy have pulled Kaspersky products.