China removes Kaspersky and Symantec from approved antivirus vendor list

The Chinese government has removed Symantec and Kaspersky from a list of approved antivirus vendors. Instead, the Chinese are recommending five homegrown companies, various media announced.

State news agency Xinhua says, citing a communist newspaper, that instead of Symantec and Kaspersky, China is touting five other antivirus vendors. These are Qihoo 360, Venustech, CAJinchen, Beijing Jiangmin and Rising. All the companies mentioned are Chinese.

Kaspersky told Reuters news agency after the decision that the company is investigating. A spokesman said talks with the Chinese government are currently underway and it is too premature to elaborate. Symantec could not be reached for comment.

It is not known why the Chinese government has removed the two security companies from the list of approved suppliers. The country may want to limit technological influence from abroad in this way.