The Latest: Office Depot to stop selling Kaspersky software

The Latest on Kaspersky Lab software (all times local):

___

11:30 a.m.

Office Depot says it will no longer sell anti-virus software made by Russian company Kaspersky Labs, a day after the U.S. government banned federal agencies from using it.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday cited concerns about Kaspersky's possible ties to the Kremlin and Russian intelligence services as the reason for the ban. Moscow-based Kaspersky has denied any unethical ties with Russia or any government.

Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. has also stopped selling Kaspersky's software.

Office Depot Inc. says it plans to offer an in-store service where anyone who has purchased Kaspersky software, even from another store, can have their computers switched over to McAfee ant-virus software for a fee. The company hasn't determined how much it will charge for that service yet.

Kaspersky didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

___

1 a.m.

Worries rippled through the consumer market for antivirus software after the U.S. government banned federal agencies from using Kaspersky Labs software.

Best Buy said it will no longer sell software made by the Russian company, although one security researcher said most consumers don't need to be alarmed.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security cited concerns about possible ties between unnamed Kaspersky officials and the Kremlin and Russian intelligence services. Kaspersky has denied any unethical ties with Russia or any government.

Nicholas Weaver, a computer security researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, called the U.S. government decision "prudent" but added by email that "for most everybody else, the software is fine."