Juniper Networks has announced a change of software for its NetScreen firewalls that removes what many believed was a backdoor for National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance. The news was shared in a corporate blog that detailed results from an investigation into unauthorized code found in the software run by their NetScreen products. Their solution involves aligning the NetScreen code with the same random number generators used for cryptography in their other products. Juniper noted that:
The investigation of the origin of the unauthorized code continues.
However, many reason that the NSA was the likely source of the code. Dan Goodin of Ars Technica provides a well-researched but very readable summary of the security hole, how it was detected, and the evidence that links it to the NSA; you can read his article here.
