US Department of Homeland Security Orders Federal Agencies to Remove DeepSeek Products
The US Department of Homeland Security has directed federal civilian agencies to stop acquiring products from DeepSeek and to remove the technology from their systems. The order was formally issued on October 19 and published the next day.
The directive covers Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, its affiliates, and any third-party products or services developed using DeepSeek implementations. Affiliates are defined according to the Federal Acquisition Regulation. This broad scope means agencies must also address software from other vendors that incorporates DeepSeek technology, even though no public list of affected suppliers was provided.
The legal basis is the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018 and its implementing rules. The decision followed a recommendation from the Federal Acquisition Security Council, supported by evidence that was not described in the public notice.
The order does not cite any specific intrusion, stolen government records, or confirmed data breach. It also sets no deadline for removal and does not identify the signing official. The document appears in docket DHS-2026-0628 on the federal rulemaking portal, with the CISA implementation team designated as the contact.
The restriction is limited to the federal supply chain and does not extend to private companies or individuals using DeepSeek outside government environments. As of publication, DeepSeek had not issued a public response.
Related articles
Protecting Data Centers from Kinetic and Cyber Attacks: What Regulators Worldwide Are Proposing
InfoWatch experts have updated their April report on data center resilience, highlighting how physical and cyber threats now directly threaten business continuity and national security. Regulators in the United States, European Union, and Russia are treating data centers as strategic infrastructure requiring layered defenses that combine physical hardening, geographic distribution, and strict cybersecurity controls. The United States has launched the Cyberstrategy for America 2026 emphasizing offensive operations, Zero Trust modernization, and supply-chain restrictions. The European Union is implementing ProtectEU and the Cyber Solidarity Act with real-time threat sharing and mandatory resilience standards under DORA. Russia is advancing technological sovereignty targets, new siting rules for data centers, and Presidential Decree No. 604 that enables temporary state management of inadequately protected critical facilities. The report also notes growing recognition that attacks on data centers can constitute acts of aggression under the Tallinn Manual.
AKIT Requests Temporary Permission for Russian Companies to Transfer Personal Data Abroad After Data Center Incidents
The Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT) has sent a formal letter to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin proposing a temporary exemption from strict data localization rules. The measure would allow affected companies to move critical systems and Russian citizens' personal data to data centers in friendly countries when domestic infrastructure is unavailable due to accidents or damage. Members including Ozon, Wildberries, Cooper, and Yandex Market argue that services must continue operating even if Russian facilities are compromised. The proposed special regime would apply only after an officially confirmed incident, require compliance with information security standards, and end no later than March 1, 2028. After recovery, companies would be required to return to normal data processing within Russia. Expert Alexey Muntyan noted that the mechanism activates only after incidents occur and questioned whether countries should be selected based on data protection levels rather than political alignment.
Anthropic Model Reconstructs NSA Seeds for NIST Elliptic Curves in Under 30 Minutes
An internal Anthropic research model traced the origins of the five seeds used by the NSA to generate the NIST elliptic curves P-192, P-224, P-256, P-384, and P-521. The discovery resolves a 25-year-old question that arose when the curves were standardized in FIPS 186-2 for ECDSA in 2000. Researchers combined analysis of 1990s random number generators, 34 generator-output combinations, and lattice reduction techniques to identify lrand48 initialized with Unix timestamps from May 1997 to April 1998. The P-256 seed corresponds to the 1842nd candidate from a run started on 16 August 1997, and example seeds from ANSI X9.62 follow the same pattern. The work does not demonstrate any cryptographic break or backdoor in the curves and does not recommend changes to production systems. Several questions remain open, including the seed for curve B-163 and the reason certain candidate values were discarded.
Bitget Bans Residents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, Sets Strict Deadlines for Position Closure and Asset Withdrawal
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget has updated its user agreement to prohibit residents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus from using its services. The changes took effect on 16 October, with affected users receiving individual notifications via email, the mobile app and push alerts. New trading, orders and subscriptions were disabled at 10:00 Moscow time on 18 October. Users must close all positions and withdraw assets by 10:00 Moscow time on 21 October, after which remaining positions will be liquidated automatically and account access will be restricted. The exchange has not disclosed the specific reason for the decision in its public statement. The move underscores how access to crypto platforms can be terminated by changes in terms of service rather than technical issues or user credentials.