US bars DeepSeek from civilian agencies and federal contracts
The US Department of Homeland Security has barred civilian federal agencies from using DeepSeek products and services, and the company from federal contracts, according to Bloomberg. Agencies must remove DeepSeek products already on their systems; Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin cited potential national-security and data-privacy risks, while CyberScoop reported the order allows exceptions with advance justification.
Bottom line — Agencies seeking an exception must apply 60 days in advance and provide a compelling justification, CyberScoop reports.
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Bloomberg says the accompanying order was signed by Mullin and dated July 24; CyberScoop reports a June 26 order date.
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CyberScoop says the ban applies to products and services from DeepSeek’s parent company, Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence.
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Mullin said DeepSeek stores data on servers in China, where national-security laws allow authorities wide latitude to request company data, CyberScoop reports.
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CyberScoop says Mullin also warned that prompts and responses could transfer sensitive information, a risk he said can apply to other AI models too.
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Agencies are encouraged to monitor network traffic and strengthen logging and controls against data exfiltration while removing the tools, according to CyberScoop.
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DeepSeek is the only Chinese AI model named in the order, CyberScoop reports.