A federal court has dismissed two lawsuits from Kaspersky Lab, which sought to overturn a US government ban on the company's products.
A district judge on Wednesday ruled that the US has the right to ban the Russian antivirus vendor's products from federal government computers; the feds say they pose a national security risk.
"These defensive actions may very well have adverse consequences for some third parties. But that does not make them unconstitutional," Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her ruling.
Kaspersky Lab plans to appeal. "Kaspersky Lab maintains that these actions were the product of unconstitutional agency and legislative processes, and unfairly targeted the company without any meaningful fact finding," the company said in a statement.
Over the last year, the vendor has been fighting off allegations that the Russian government used Kaspersky Lab products to spy on computers. In October, the company admitted to accidentally lifting the confidential files of a NSA employee from his computer in 2014, but placed some of the blame on human error. Despite Kaspersky Lab's attempts to reassure the public, the US government claims the company's ties to Kremlin officials have been too close for comfort.
In September, the Department of Homeland Security ordered federal government offices to identify and remove Kaspersky Lab software from their computers. Congress then passed legislation, effectively making the directive law.
In response, Kaspersky filed suit, arguing that the ban unfairly punished the Russian antivirus vendor over unsupported spying claims, and was thus unconstitutional. "DHS has harmed Kaspersky Lab's reputation and its commercial operations without any evidence of wrongdoing by the company," CEO Eugene Kaspersky said at the time.
On Wednesday, Judge Kollar-Kotelly sided with Congress. The ban against Kaspersky Lab merely closes off "one small source of revenue," for a large multinational company with clients across the world, she wrote. According to Kaspersky Lab's own data, the vendor held less than $54,000 in active licenses with US federal agencies in 2016.
Although the ban may end up hurting Kaspersky Lab's reputation, the judge ruled that any potential damage was "not out of balance" with US efforts to protect the country from cybersecurity threats.