A breach has occurred involving F5, Inc., a company supplying networking software essential for many major corporations and government bodies.

The security incident was officially reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 15, indicating unauthorized access by a sophisticated actor believed to be supported by the Chinese government. This entity reportedly infiltrated the company’s systems for more than a year.

F5 elaborated that the hackers managed to download sensitive files from several systems including significant environments for product development. Although the amount of data taken appears to be relatively limited, the breach’s nature indicates potential for greater exploitation.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has acknowledged the severity of this breach, labeling it a significant cyber threat for federal networks, increasing the overall concerns regarding the state of cybersecurity across federal infrastructures.