US adds sanctions of Kaspersky executives to ban on company software

A dozen executives and senior leaders at Kaspersky Lab were sanctioned by the Treasury Department on Friday, the latest punitive action against the Russian antivirus company by the U.S.

The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated the firm’s chief operating officer, top legal counsel, human resources chief and the leader of its research and development wing, among others. 

It did not sanction Kaspersky Lab, its parent or subsidiary companies, or the company’s CEO, Eugene Kaspersky.

The move comes a day after the Commerce Department issued a final determination to ban the Moscow-based company from the U.S. because of national security and other longstanding concerns, including risks to critical infrastructure. 

Commerce also added three Kaspersky divisions to its entity list for cooperation with the Russian government in its cyber intelligence goals.

Kaspersky has vehemently denied allegations that it is beholden to any government and has vowed to pursue legal options against the steps taken by Commerce.

“Today’s action against the leadership of Kaspersky Lab underscores our commitment to ensure the integrity of our cyber domain and to protect our citizens against malicious cyber threats,” Brian Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.  

The U.S. “will take action where necessary to hold accountable those who would seek to facilitate or otherwise enable these activities,” he added.