--- title: VPN flaws allowed Chinese hackers to compromise dozens... description: Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached Pulse Secure's network in February 2021 by exploiting a secret backdoor planted in its VPN software, gaining access to... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/vpn-flaws-allowed-chinese-hackers-to-compromise-dozens-of-ivanti-customers-says-report-yga1p1bzb twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: VPN flaws allowed Chinese hackers to compromise dozens of Ivanti customers, says report | daily.dev og:description: Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached Pulse Secure's network in February 2021 by exploiting a secret backdoor planted in its VPN software, gaining access to... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/vpn-flaws-allowed-chinese-hackers-to-compromise-dozens-of-ivanti-customers-says-report-yga1p1bzb og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/yGA1P1BZB.png og:image:alt: VPN flaws allowed Chinese hackers to compromise dozens of Ivanti customers, says report og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # VPN flaws allowed Chinese hackers to compromise dozens of Ivanti customers, says report **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached Pulse Secure's network in February 2021 by exploiting a secret backdoor planted in its VPN software, gaining access to 119 organizations including European and U.S. military contractors. Mandiant was aware of the breaches and alerted Ivanti. Bloomberg's reporting ties the security failures to cost-cutting and layoffs following Clearlake Capital Group's 2017 private equity acquisition of Ivanti, which eroded institutional security knowledge. The incident is part of a broader pattern: CISA ordered federal agencies to disconnect Ivanti VPNs in 2024, and additional critical flaws have been exploited since. Similar PE-driven security degradation is noted at Citrix. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [CISA gives feds 3 days to patch Check Point VPN bug exploited as zero-day](https://daily.dev/posts/cisa-gives-feds-3-days-to-patch-check-point-vpn-bug-exploited-as-zero-day-v4jbko8vp) · BleepingComputer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A Qilin ransomware affiliate exploited a Check Point VPN zero-day for a month before a patch existed](https://daily.dev/posts/a-qilin-ransomware-affiliate-exploited-a-check-point-vpn-zero-day-for-a-month-before-a-patch-existed-m3wbw9z8q) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Attackers exploit Palo Alto GlobalProtect flaw days after disclosure](https://daily.dev/posts/attackers-exploit-palo-alto-globalprotect-flaw-days-after-disclosure-7jl7oxcpm) · CSO Online · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Cybercriminals allegedly hacked tens of thousands of Fortinet firewalls used by major companies all over the world](https://daily.dev/posts/cybercriminals-allegedly-hacked-tens-of-thousands-of-fortinet-firewalls-used-by-major-companies-all--usy8k8i0h) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Critical Check Point VPN Zero-Day Exploited in the Wild \(CVE-2026-50751\)](https://daily.dev/posts/critical-check-point-vpn-zero-day-exploited-in-the-wild-cve-2026-50751--8lk5ari1g) · Rapid7 Cybersecurity Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#cyber](https://daily.dev/tags/cyber), [#vpn](https://daily.dev/tags/vpn) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/vpn-flaws-allowed-chinese-hackers-to-compromise-dozens-of-ivanti-customers-says-report-yga1p1bzb) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"VPN flaws allowed Chinese hackers to compromise dozens of Ivanti customers, says report","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/vpn-flaws-allowed-chinese-hackers-to-compromise-dozens-of-ivanti-customers-says-report-yga1p1bzb","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/vpn-flaws-allowed-chinese-hackers-to-compromise-dozens-of-ivanti-customers-says-report-yga1p1bzb"},"datePublished":"2026-02-23T16:11:30.798Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:12:57.457Z","description":"Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached Pulse Secure's network in February 2021 by exploiting a secret backdoor planted in its VPN software, gaining access to...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/1126ff53a0292628913f6dcd24628bc6?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/1126ff53a0292628913f6dcd24628bc6?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCrunch","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCrunch","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tc","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/vpn-flaws-allowed-chinese-hackers-to-compromise-dozens-of-ivanti-customers-says-report-yga1p1bzb","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,cyber,vpn","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCrunch","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"VPN flaws allowed Chinese hackers to compromise dozens of Ivanti customers, says report"}]} ```