On April 13, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are partnering with international partners’ cybersecurity agencies to encourage technology manufacturers to create products that are secure-by-design and secure-by-default.
The group of nine agencies has published the Cybersecurity Information Sheet, “Shifting the Balance of Cybersecurity Risk: Principles and Approaches for Security-by-Design and Default,” to raise awareness and facilitate international conversations about key priorities, investments, and decisions necessary to manufacture technology that is safe, secure, and resilient.
“Insecure technology products can pose risks to individual users and our national security,” said NSA Cybersecurity Director Rob Joyce. “If manufacturers consistently prioritize security during design and development, we can reduce the number of malicious cyber intrusions we see. The international coalition partnering on this report speaks to the importance of this issue.”
The international coalition includes Australia’s Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), Canada’s Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK), Netherlands’ National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NL), and New Zealand’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT NZ) and National Cyber Security Centre (NZ NCSC).
In the new report, the agencies highlight the importance of prioritizing security throughout a product’s lifecycle to reduce the likelihood of security incidents. The principles ensure technology products are built and configured in a way that protects against malicious cyber actors gaining access to devices, data, and connected infrastructure.
NSA and its partners recommend technology manufacturers and organization executives prioritize the implementation of secure-by-design and default principles outlined in the report.
In addition to the recommendations listed in the report, the authoring agencies encourage the use of the Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF), also known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) SP 800-218. The SSDF helps software producers become more effective at finding and removing vulnerabilities in released software, mitigate the potential impact of the exploitation of vulnerabilities, and address the root causes of vulnerabilities to prevent future recurrences.
Read the full report here.
Source: NSA
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By Loren Blinde
April 14, 2023
