Report: Symantec And Kaspersky Excluded From Approved Antivirus List In China
Aug 4, 2014, 22:47 IST
AP Photo/Alexander F. YuanThe U.S.-based antivirus firm Symantec and Russia's Kaspersky Lab have been added to the growing list of foreign tech firms banned from China, according to latest reports.
Chinese government-owned People's Daily tweeted on Sunday that China's government procurement agency "has excluded Symantec & Kaspersky from its security software supplier list."
It also said the five antivirus softwares that have been approved are all Chinese firms.
China's Public Security Ministry reportedly sent a notice to Symantec in June over security issues, according to Bloomberg. But the company told Bloomberg, "Symantec does not put hidden functionality or back doors into any of its technologies - not for the NSA or any other government entities."
Kaspersky said in a statement that it's investigating the matter and it's "too premature to go into any additional details at this time."
The Chinese government has been promoting the use of domestic tech products lately, following the recent NSA revelations of U.S. tech firms' spying programs. Just last week, four Microsoft offices in China were raided by Chinese government officials, while Windows 8 products were banned from all Chinese government computers in May.
The increasing anti-U.S. technology sentiment around the world is having serious consequences on American tech firms. A new report by the nonprofit New America Foundation last week estimated it could slow the growth of the U.S. tech industry by as much as 4%.