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Citrix says FBI investigating network breach by ‘international cyber criminals’

Citrix, a widely used log-in service in the corporate world, revealed Friday that the FBI is investigating a breach to its internal network by “international cyber criminals.”
Citrix offices, California
Citrix offices in Santa Clara, California. (Getty Images)

Citrix, a VPN service widely used in the corporate world, revealed Friday that the FBI is investigating a breach to its internal network by “international cyber criminals.”

The hackers appear to have “accessed and downloaded business documents,” the company said in a blog post, adding that it doesn’t know specifically what was accessed. There is no sign that the breach has compromised any Citrix product or service, the Florida-based company said.

“While not confirmed, the FBI has advised that the hackers likely used a tactic known as password spraying, a technique that exploits weak passwords,” Citrix said. “Once they gained a foothold with limited access, they worked to circumvent additional layers of security.”

Citrix said it had hired a top digital forensics company to investigate further.

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News of the breach led to a drop in stock for the company Friday. Citrix has said it provides VPN services to 400,000 companies worldwide, including most of the Fortune 500.

Sean Lyngaas

Written by Sean Lyngaas

Sean Lyngaas is CyberScoop’s Senior Reporter covering the Department of Homeland Security and Congress. He was previously a freelance journalist in West Africa, where he covered everything from a presidential election in Ghana to military mutinies in Ivory Coast for The New York Times. Lyngaas’ reporting also has appeared in The Washington Post, The Economist and the BBC, among other outlets. His investigation of cybersecurity issues in the nuclear sector, backed by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, won plaudits from industrial security experts. He was previously a reporter with Federal Computer Week and, before that, with Smart Grid Today. Sean earned a B.A. in public policy from Duke University and an M.A. in International Relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

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