The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is warning federal agencies about a potential data breach involving the F5 technology vendor. CBS News' Nicole Sganga reports.

Washington

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an emergency order requiring all federal agencies to immediately patch critical vulnerabilities in devices and software provided by technology vendor F5. This action follows reports that hackers gained unauthorized access to F5's source code, raising concerns due to the vendor's widespread use in government and critical infrastructure.

While CISA has not confirmed any data breaches within federal civilian agencies, the directive aims to uncover potential compromises and prevent further risk. The breach is believed to be part of a broader cyber espionage campaign by a nation-state actor. The response comes as CISA faces staffing challenges following recent layoffs, but the agency states that its critical operations remain unaffected.

Federal agencies warned of 'imminent risk' after possible data breach

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is warning all federal agencies to respond to an imminent risk after a possible data breach. The agency issued an emergency warning directing other agencies to patch technological vulnerabilities. More on this, I want to bring in CBS News Homeland Security correspondent Nicole Skanga. So Nicole, what happened and who's behind the breach? Yeah, Vlad, this is a sweeping emergency order and it directs all federal agencies to immediately patch critical vulnerabilities in certain devices and software made by a technology vendor called F5. It's a really big vendor, so it's concerning that hackers have gained unauthorized access to its source code. F5 is foundational. It's used to secure everything from government agencies to critical infrastructure, and there are thousands of F5 technologies used by the federal government. Now, CISA won't say exactly who is behind it, but they did say it appears to be a cyber espionage campaign by a nation state actor, and there is an ongoing investigation. So what kind of information is at risk? Well, right now, CISA says it's not aware of any data breaches within federal civilian agencies, but the directive that it's issued is designed to uncover any potential compromises. It basically asks all of these agencies to figure out what exactly was accessed here. But because this whole campaign appears to be part of a broader nation state effort targeting elements of US technology and the supply chain, the concern is about persistent access that our adversaries might have to gather intelligence, to hold our critical infrastructure hostage, or to position themselves for future attacks. So this is going to be increasingly common, I guess, as we go forward, Nicole. So what kind of steps are agencies doing in responding to this threat? What kind of steps should they take to prevent it? Yeah. One of the big challenges right now, Vlad, is that CISA has been bleeding staff. I mean, it's been reassigning some of its own workers to work on deportations. It's a part of the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS has laid off 176 employees since the federal government shut down on October 1st. We know that the bulk of those are from CISA, that CISA accounts for most of those RIF layoffs. And that's a big chunk of an agency that's already just down to 2,000 people and short-staffed. So we know, based on conversations with CISA staffers, that morale is at an all-time low. That said, the agency says all of its critical personnel are still at work. Its operations here are unaffected. The numbers do tell a different story. But with this emergency directive, you know, civilian federal agencies across the board are going to have to take stock of what has been compromised, sort of the first step to trying to eliminate or remove any foreign adversaries from within critical infrastructure. But Vlad, that's a very long and complicated process. Yeah, it sounds like it. Nicole Skanga for us. Thank you, Nicole. Appreciate it.

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