DHS Bans DeepSeek From Federal Civilian Agencies
DHS ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products, citing data-transfer and malware risks.
Engadget reported that DHS said DeepSeek use could potentially result in the transfer of sensitive data belonging to U.S. government employees and vendors to the Chinese government. The department also said DeepSeek’s models could contain malware or other security vulnerabilities.
Under the order, civilian agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Communications Commission would have to exclude DeepSeek products from use and remove any existing related products.
The order follows DeepSeek’s release of its latest model, V4.1-Flash-1017, which the company called “smarter, faster, more efficient.” Engadget reported that this is not the first friction between DeepSeek and the U.S. government; last year, two U.S. Congressmembers proposed a bill to ban DeepSeek’s AI chatbot from government devices.