The source code for versions 12.3 and 12.3t  of Cisco's main networking device operating system, IOS, was apparently stolen last week. The news comes via a Russian security site, which claims thatthe person involved accessed Cisco System's corporate network "and then boasted about it on an underground internet relay chat channel."

The individual, the report continues, claimed that the total amount of data in the archives was around 800 megabytes and provided two snippets of code as proof of the claims.

One commentator, Mark Joseph Edwards, notes:

"[If] security-related bugs are found in the leaked Cisco IOS code and the discoverers don't notify Cisco and given them time to produce patches then the ramifications could potentially become huge since so many network uses Cisco hardware, including core Internet service providers."