Cyber Incident Victim: Citrix Systems
Date:
Mar 2019
Location:
United States of America
Summary
A cybersecurity breach targeted Citrix after international cybercriminals infiltrated its corporate network, likely through password-spraying attacks exploiting weak credentials. The FBI alerted the company to unauthorized access, where attackers exfiltrated business documents, though the specific compromised data remained unclear during initial investigations. The company confirmed no evidence indicated its products or services were directly affected but acknowledged potential impacts on customers and expressed regret over the incident. Internal forensics and collaboration with law enforcement authorities continued to assess the scope while updates were promised as the probe advanced.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On March 6, 2019, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alerted Citrix that its corporate network had been breached by unauthorized actors. The FBI indicated it had "reason to believe" international cybercriminals were responsible for the intrusion. Initial forensic analysis by Citrix suggested the attackers likely employed password-spraying techniques, a method involving repeated attempts to access accounts using common or weak passwords, to infiltrate the network. Internal investigations confirmed that threat actors successfully exfiltrated business documents from Citrix systems during the breach. The company acknowledged the compromise but stated it could not immediately determine the full scope or specific nature of the stolen data. Citrix explicitly noted no evidence indicated any compromise to the security of its commercial products or cloud services. The breach remained confined to Citrix's internal corporate network infrastructure.
Citrix Chief Security Information Officer Stan Black publicly disclosed the incident through a corporate blog post on the same day as the FBI notification. The company expressed regret for potential impacts on affected customers and committed to providing updates as its investigation progressed. Citrix collaborated with law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, to address the breach but did not disclose specific containment measures or technical remediation steps taken. No further details regarding the timeline of the attack, exact entry vectors beyond the password-spraying hypothesis, or identities of the international cybercriminals were released. The incident prompted ongoing internal forensic reviews to ascertain the complete extent of data exposure and operational consequences.