Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Citrix Discloses Security Breach of Internal Network (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the security-woes dept.

Citrix disclosed today a security breach during which hackers accessed the company's internal network. In a short statement posted on its blog, Citrix Chief Security Information Officer Stan Black said Citrix found out about the hack from the FBI earlier this week. From a report: "On March 6, 2019, the FBI contacted Citrix to advise they had reason to believe that international cyber criminals gained access to the internal Citrix network," Black 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. Once they gained a foothold with limited access, they worked to circumvent additional layers of security," the Citrix exec added. Black said hackers accessed and downloaded business documents, but Citrix wasn't able to identify what specific documents had been stolen at the time of his announcement today.

9 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. My work slogan: Citrix is a bad idea. by jellomizer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I know Citrix is a godsend for people who have to deal with Software Deployment and updates. But it is really just a gross hack to make software accessible over the network that were never designed to be such. On most Citrix Setups I am able to get more access to apps that I wasn't given permission for. Mostly due to the fact that Windows security wasn't designed for Citrix in mind. A right click here, view file path, or a help file that opens IE. I now have access to applications on the server that I wasn't really meant to have.

    If you think Citrix is a good idea, then you probably should be looking at different software, such as more Web Based (HTML) Application. Because you will be better off.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:My work slogan: Citrix is a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sometimes Citrix is the answer because there's some dogshit legacy app that you're stuck with. It's not a good idea, it's just barely tolerable.

    2. Re:My work slogan: Citrix is a bad idea. by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Oh? I use SSH for remote development and updates. Citrix is a symptom of an inferior system that is unsuitable for professional work.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    3. Re: My work slogan: Citrix is a bad idea. by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Citrix is a hack for a bad development model that was popular during the 1990s.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    4. Re:My work slogan: Citrix is a bad idea. by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 1

      Windows security wasn't designed for Citrix in mind

      Not arguing the usefulness or effectiveness of Citrix software, but Citrix is responsible for Windows Terminal Services and has been since NT4. They wrote it. It is very much part of Windows and pretty much always has been

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    5. Re:My work slogan: Citrix is a bad idea. by DarthVain · · Score: 1

      As someone that's done all that for the last 20 years for apps that have been around for 20 year prior to me, "tolerable" perhaps in the modern sense, but in comparison the the "dogshit legacy app" it might be considered considerably more. Citrix is a vast improvement over what existed, which perhaps isn't saying much, but still.

      That said, to the previous poster, yes I've seen the security stuff first hand. I don't exactly advertise it to users, but it's there, every now and again I accidentally "oh hello there server I'm not supposed to have access to". Users I'm sure randomly save garbage there by accident and then get confused when they can't find it locally.

      Another weird Citrix thing I've noticed is it apparently doesn't really like when users have multiple monitor setups with different resolutions... Gets pretty wacky if you do.

      Anyway as the local "legacy app guy" its a stopgap measure for sure to actually replacing the apps with something a bit less "vintage", however in almost all cases that takes a ton of time, effort, and money and if you have a lot of them not really something to can do easily never mind all at once. As the parent posted, I remember having to manage local installations for a very large organization with this legacy stuff and evolving technology and it was a real nightmare, never mind trying to get development releases out to at least have the thin veneer of keeping those apps somewhat "modernized" or at least useful. Just having total control over the environment is a pretty big deal by comparison...

      Lastly, yes while the Citrix security is a bit iffy, it actually improves real security by simply being a man in the middle. Previous with local installs of these sorts of apps, if you knew what you were doing, you could find all the direct connection details in your local TNS and INI files if you knew where to look, now at least that stuff isn't stored locally anymore (You'd have to take the extra step of bypassing the Citrix security also lol, which I know doesn't sound like much, but it kinda is as it was just sitting all right there for anyone to see if they really wanted to)...

  2. Citrix ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... didn't know they had been hacked and, when informed that they were breached, didn't know what the hackers got.

    Clueless.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:Citrix ... by gweihir · · Score: 1

      And they were apparently compromised because somebody from outside got in using a weak password. Criminally negligent is what I call that.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  3. Why would anybody hack Citrix? by gweihir · · Score: 1

    They have nothing of value to steal. Must have been a practice attack or somebody that was forced to user their products and wants revenge for that.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.