Nearly a month after the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it was banning Kaspersky Lab Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Russian antivirus software maker Kaspersky from selling its software in the U.S., Kaspersky Lab has announced it’s closing its U.S. business and laying off its employees.

As first reported today by Zero Day, Kaspersky said that beginning July 20, it will start gradually winding down its U.S. operations as a direct result of the ban, despite initially saying it was going to fight the ban in court.

“The company has carefully examined and evaluated the impact of the U.S. legal requirements and made this sad and difficult decision as business opportunities in the country are no longer viable,” the company said in a statement. Kaspersky added that the layoffs affect “less than 50 employees in the U.S.”

The July 20 date that Kaspersky has chosen to wind down operations is the same day the ban starts. In addition to the ban on selling new software, Kaspersky is prohibited from rolling out new security updates to existing customers starting Sept. 29.

The decision to ban Kaspersky was made on national security grounds. The Commerce Department claims that Kaspersky’s continued operations in the U.S. presented a national security risk given the Russian government’s offensive cyber capabilities and its capacity to influence or direct Kaspersky’s operations.

“Russia has shown time and again [that] they have the capability and intent to exploit Russian companies, like Kaspersky Lab, to collect and weaponize sensitive U.S. information, and we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to safeguard U.S. national security and the American people,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said at the time the ban was announced.

The ban did not come as a surprise post-Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, though it always denied being controlled by the Russian government, Kaspersky had been in the spotlight previously for its Russian origins.

The first ban on Kaspersky dates back to 2017 when the Trump administration banned software from the company being used by most U.S. government agencies. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security then ordered government agencies to stop using Kaspersky software later the same year.

Kaspersky fought the initial bans in court but ultimately failed and the company’s products were permanently banned from government use in 2019.

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