A U.S. National Security Agency update has disclosed the activity of APT5, a presumed Chinese hacking group, which is looking to exploit a vulnerability in networking gear from U.S. technology company Citrix Systems Inc to spy on targets. It also asked that victims who find additional evidence of a cyber attack contact the NSA’s Cybersecurity Collaboration Center.
According to the agency’s notice, a group known as Advanced Persistent Threat 5, or APT5, a security designation for a Chinese state-backed hacking group known to target telecommunications companies, is operating against a Citrix software known as application delivery controllers (ADCs). Citrix ADC targeting can “facilitate illegitimate access to targeted organizations by bypassing normal authentication controls,” according to the agency.
Meanwhile, Citrix issued software patches to its customers on Tuesday to address what analysts call a “zero-day” security flaw in its software that, if left unpatched, could be exploited by Chinese hackers to gain unauthorized computer network access.
Citrix said “a vulnerability has been discovered in Citrix Gateway and Citrix ADC … that, if exploited, could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to perform arbitrary code execution on the appliance.”
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
