In February 2021, software giant Ivanti discovered that Chinese hackers had breached the network of Pulse Secure, one of its subsidiaries that provided VPN devices to dozens of companies and government agencies around the world. according to a new Bloomberg report.
The hackers exploited a secret backdoor they had placed in Pulse Secure’s VPN software, Bloomberg reported, citing Ivanti’s security chief at the time and other sources. The backdoor allowed hackers to gain access to 119 other anonymous organizations that used the same company’s VPN product.
Mandiant was also reportedly aware of the breaches, alerting Ivanti that hackers had exploited the flaw to breach European and US military contractors.
The previously unreported breach is the latest example of how acquisitions, layoffs and cost-cutting by private equity firms helped compromise the quality and security of Ivanti’s most critical technologies. After private equity giant Clearlake Capital Group acquired Ivanti in 2017, Bloomberg reported rounds of layoffs — particularly in 2022 — that affected employees who had deep institutional knowledge of the company’s products and their security.
Ivanti and Mandiant did not respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg’s findings echo earlier reports about rival remote access tools provider Citrix, which had large-scale layoffs following a 2022 deal by Elliott Investment Management and Vista Equity Partners to buy the company. Like Ivanti, Citrix has been plagued by cybersecurity incidents and critical flaws in recent years.
Since then, Ivanti’s VPN products have caused at least two other major attacks.
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In early 2024, the US cybersecurity agency CISA ordered all federal agencies to disconnect Ivanti VPN devices within two days because hackers were actively exploiting vulnerabilities unknown to Ivanti at the time. Ivanti also warned customers last year that hackers were exploiting another critical flaw in its Connect Secure product to hack enterprise customers.
