In the ongoing battle between Kaspersky Labs and the United States government, the Russia-based antivirus provider has sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for failing to provide them basic due process. In a lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Kaspersky has stated that the DHS has harmed their reputation and commercial interests in the U.S. without any evidence of wrongdoing.

On September 19th 2017, the DHS issued the Binding Operating Directive 17-01 (BOD), which stated that all federal departments and agencies needed to identify any use of Kaspersky products, to create a detailed report on the products removal, and then ultimately to remove all Kaspersky products from federal agency computers.

According to the filed lawsuit, Kaspersky was allegedly given no notice or prior opportunity to be heard and that the DHS was required to provide them adequate due process under the Administrative Procedure Act before issuing the BOD.

The lawsuit goes on to say that the total value of Kaspersky licenses used by federal agencies is only $54,000 USD, which only represents .03% of their total annual sales.

32. The U.S. has been and remains one of the most significant geographic markets in Kaspersky Lab’s global business. Sales to customers in the United States represent approximately one quarter of total global bookings in 2016. Plaintiff Kaspersky Lab, Inc. has invested over half a billion dollars in its operations over the last twelve years, and over $65 million in 2016 alone. 33. Active licenses held by federal agencies have a total value (to Plaintiffs) of less than USD $54,000, which represents a tiny fraction (0.03%) of Plaintiff Kaspersky Lab, Inc.’s annual sales in the United States.

The main concern, though, is that the BOD is causing a major impact on sales to commercial and enterprise clients in the USA, with some retailers having removed Kaspersky Lab products altogether from their shelves.

The BOD, supported by other actions in Congress, has also had a severe adverse impact on Kaspersky’s other commercial interests in the U.S., which begun long before the Defendants’ decision was officially declared “Final.” For example, several retailers have removed Kaspersky Lab products from their shelves and suspended their long-standing partnerships with Kaspersky Lab following the issuance of the BOD. As a result of these and other actions, Plaintiffs’ 2017 Q3 retail sales have fallen significantly compared to the same period in 2016. Presently, Plaintiffs are receiving and processing an unprecedented volume of product return and early termination requests as a result of DHS and other U.S. Government actions, which customers specifically refer to when stating the reason for their return.

Kaspersky is seeking to have the courts invalidate and rescind the BOD and Final Decision and for DHS to declare that the use of Kaspersky products on federal systems do not present a security risk.