CISA Orders Federal Agencies to Fix VPN Vulnerability in 3 Days
Original: CISA gives US federal agencies three days to fix a VPN bug under attack by a ransomware gang
Why This Matters
Critical government cybersecurity incident requiring emergency patching of federal networks
CISA ordered US federal agencies to patch Check Point VPN vulnerability by June 11 after ransomware group Qilin exploited the flaw to attack dozens of organizations globally starting May 7, with activity increasing recently.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued an emergency directive requiring all civilian federal agencies to remediate a Check Point Software vulnerability by end-of-day Wednesday. The flaw affects Check Point's remote access tools, firewalls, and VPNs used across government networks. Ransomware group Qilin has been actively exploiting the bug since May 7 to target 'a few dozen organizations globally,' with attack activity rising last week according to Check Point. CISA invoked BOD 22-01 operational guidance, which allows the agency to mandate security actions when active cyber threats target government networks. Affected agencies include Homeland Security, State Department, and Treasury.