The Heartbleed Web-security bug, which affected the hardware, connecting both homes and businesses to the Internet turned out to be more serious than initially expected. The encryption bug has been recently discovered by researchers at Google Inc. and officially disclosed on Monday this week.
Two of the largest network equipment makers in the world – Cisco Systems Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc. – warned that some of the products they offer were found to contain the Heartbleed flaw. This means that sensitive information such as usernames and passwords may be accessed by hackers.
Both companies made statements concerning the problem. As reported by Bloomberg, Cisco said: “We take the management of security vulnerabilities very seriously. We encourage our customers to visit our website for ongoing updates.”
On the other hand, Juniper Networks Inc., warned that the process may take long. Companys spokesman – Mr. Corey Olferts comments were cited by the Wall Street Journal: “It doesnt sound like a flip the switch sort of thing. I dont know how quickly they can be resolved.” The companys statement was also cited by Bloomberg: “A subset of Juniper’s products were affected including certain versions of our SSL VPN software, which presents the most critical concern for customers,. The company issued a patch for its SSL VPN product on Tuesday and is working around the clock to provide patched versions of code for our other affected products.”
The bug urged both companies and government agencies to fix it as soon as possible in order to avoid further problems. A number of websites, including the ones, which are run by Amazon.com Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Netflix Inc. managed to fix this flaw soon after it had been found. However, Cisco Systems Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc. reported that the Heartbleed encryption bug affected devices such as switches, routers and firewalls, which are a lot more difficult to fix, not to mention the fact that the process takes considerably more time and efforts.
Mr. Jaime Blasco, the AlienVault Labs director, commented the situation for Bloomberg: “Its more painful to update these kinds of devices. You have to go one by one.”
According to Financial Times, shares of Cisco Systems Inc. fell 2.03% to close at 22.65 on NASDAQ yesterday, while companys one-year return rate was 5.50%. According to data published by CNN Money, the 33 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Cisco Systems Inc. have a median target of 24.50, with a high estimate of 30.00 and a low estimate of 16.00. The median estimate represents a +8.17% increase from the last price of 22.65.
According to Financial Times, shares of Juniper Networks Inc. lost 1.82% to close at 24.85 on the NYSE yesterday, while companys one-year return rate was 31.90%. According to CNN Money, the 31 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Juniper Networks Inc. have a median target of 30.00, with a high estimate of 37.00 and a low estimate of 22.00. The median estimate represents a +20.72% increase from the last price of 24.85.
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