FollowChina is very suspicious on foreign made software and got Symantec, Kasperski banned from central government use. The software can be used, however, on local Chinese governments or in corporations, so the ban was a lighter punishment. The main concern for China’ tough policy is that the Russian antivirus Kasperski and its American counterpart, Symantec are not safe to use among Chinese sensitive data.
The high-tech Chinese market is right now dominated by local brand Xiaomi, after Samsung dominated the sales tops for a few years.
China is not very supportive with the three tech giants, Google, Apple, and Microsoft. Each of them has faced various interdiction or accusations of leaking data produced by the Chinese government.
Instead, Chinese software companies Qihoo 360, Venustech, CAJinchen, Beijing Jiangmin and Rising are preferred by the country’s government.
Symantec, Kasperski banned by Chinese Government for potential security flaws
Kasperski said only that “We are investigating and engaging in conversations with Chinese authorities on the matter,” the company said, adding that it’s “too premature” to give more details.
Kasperski’s spokeswoman expressed regret and said that “However, this restriction only applies to national-level institutions whose funding comes from the central government procurement budget, and does not include regional governments or large enterprises.”
Symantec’s Data Loss Prevention software include loopholes. Symantec has been accused of creating back-door policy mandates. Symantec reacts by saying “Symantec does not put hidden functionality or back doors into any of its technologies -– not for the NSA or any other government entities,” the company announced today through an email, Bloomberg reports. Symantec is in China for 15 years now.
Microsoft Windows XP was very popular in China. Once Microsoft stopped offering support for the 13 years old SO, the Chinese security agency realized it needs to take any measure to support the computers still running. Windows 8 is banned from usage as well.
The Snowden documentsleak changed a lot in how privacy is conceived of and data is handled. Since then, Cisco Systems, IBM and Microsoft have all been under pressure in China. Symantec, Kasperski banned from China is a new opportunity for Chinese antivirus companies to develop.
The Russian government is stressed as well about privacy issues and asked Apple and SAP to give their source codes to the government. The Russian government believed that the of these 2 source code software producers might hide backdoors for NSA spy. The international relations and politics get tenser with every day.
