CyberScoop reports that the White House’s plan to sanction Kaspersky Lab has met resistance from senior U.S. government officials who are worried that other countries may one day use the same line of reasoning against U.S. companies operating abroad.
The proposal has largely been pioneered by the National Security Council, and Treasury Department head Steve Mnuchin has approved it, although several of his advisers are against it.
All of the sources who spoke to CyberScoop said they supported the decision to ban Kaspersky from federal IT systems, but they argued that sanctions would be a step too far, setting up unintended consequences in the future.