Cisco Investigates Potential Cybersecurity Breach, Takes DevHub Portal Offline as Precaution

Company addresses potential security incident after unauthorized access reports, engages law enforcement for further investigation.

Cisco has initiated a thorough investigation into a potential cybersecurity incident following claims of unauthorized access to its data and customer information. The tech giant responded swiftly by taking its public DevHub portal offline on October 18, 2024, as a precautionary measure.

The issue surfaced when a threat actor, identified as IntelBroker, alleged they had breached Cisco and attempted to sell stolen data and source code. It was reported that the hacker gained access to Cisco’s third-party developer environment via an exposed API token, raising alarms about the safety of the company’s developer resources.

While Cisco has yet to confirm any breach within its core systems, the company admitted that a “small number of files” were mistakenly made available for public download on their DevHub site. No sensitive personal or financial data is believed to have been compromised, but the investigation is ongoing.

In response, Cisco has engaged law enforcement and disabled public access to the DevHub portal. The company is committed to informing customers directly if any confidential information is found to have been accessed by unauthorized actors.

This incident highlights the growing challenges large technology firms face in securing digital assets, particularly in developer environments and API management. As Cisco continues its investigation, the tech world will be watching closely to understand the full impact and the measures taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.