Newly discovered hack has US fearing foreign infiltration

Juniper network has had a major breach which has led to suspicions of a group of foreign hackers spying on the encrypted communications (within the government and private companies) in the U.S for last 3 years.

The breach is believed to be the work of a foreign government because of the sophistication involved, USA officials told CNN. The breach was disclosed Thursday by Juniper, which also issued a security patch and urged customers to upgrade their systems.

CNN reported that US officials are concerned because hackers who took advantage of the flaw could access the network of companies or government agencies that used the Juniper product.

One official from the USA described it as being similar to stealing the master key that will get you inside any government building.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior US official told Reuters on Friday that the Department of Homeland Security is working closely with Juniper as they probe into the matter. The officials said they are sure that spy agencies in the US are not behind this back door. China and Russian Federation are among the top suspected governments, though officials cautioned the investigation hasn’t reached conclusions.

Actually, Juniper network is so widely used in U.S that it will take time for investigators to work out the total damage the breach has done to the systems.

There’s no word yet on which government agencies or private companies may have been using the specific ScreenOS-powered devices affected, but that’s what the Department of Homeland Security is now trying to find out. “The administration remains committed to enhancing our national cybersecurity by raising our cyber defenses, disrupting adversary activity, and effectively responding to incidents when they occur”.

USA officials said it’s not clear how the Juniper source code was altered, whether from an outside attack or someone inside.

Juniper’s notice to customers did not say whether the company was aware of how the code was inserted in the software.

Juniper said it had found a second security issue that would allow an attacker monitoring VPN traffic – that is, communication made over a secured network – to decrypt the traffic. The system was compromised for three years before Juniper uncovered it in a routine review in recent weeks.