NSC, CISA Highlight Top Cyber Misconfigurations

NSC, CISA Highlight Top Cyber Misconfigurations

Damaging cyber intrusions are far too common, causing harm to public and private organizations across every sector. While some of these intrusions use novel methods to gain access or move across a network, many exploit common misconfigurations. By ensuring strong configurations, we can significantly reduce the prevalence and impact of cyber-attacks.

Over the past several years, red and blue team operators at CISA and NSA have assessed organizations to identify how a malicious actor could gain access, move laterally, and target sensitive systems or information. These assessments have shown how common misconfigurations, such as default credentials, service permissions, and configurations of software and applications; improper separation of user/administration privilege; insufficient internal network monitoring; poor patch management, place every American at risk.

Today’s report, “NSA and CISA Red and Blue Teams Share Top Ten Cybersecurity Misconfigurations,” provides clear guidance to drive down these misconfigurations. While enterprises can and must take steps to identify and address these misconfigurations, we know that scalable progress requires urgent action by software manufacturers, particularly by adopting Secure by Design practices where software is designed securely from inception to end-of-life and by taking ownership to improve security outcomes of their customers.

Every software manufacturer should urgently adopt the practices below to reduce the prevalence of common misconfigurations by design and every customer should demand adoption of these practices by every vendor.

  • Embed security controls into product architecture from the start of development and throughout the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC) by demonstrating adoption of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF).
  • Eliminate default passwords.
  • Design products so that the compromise of a single security control does not result in compromise of the entire system.
  • Provide high-quality audit logs to customers at no extra charge.
  • Take steps to eliminate entire classes of vulnerabilities, such as by using memory-safe coding languages and implementing parameterized queries.
  • Provide sufficient detail in audit records to detect bypass of system controls and queries to monitor audit logs for traces of such suspicious activity.
  • Mandating multifactor authentication (MFA) for privileged users and making MFA a default rather than opt-in feature for all users.
  • The misconfigurations described in the advisory are too commonly found in assessments, hunts and incident response conducted by our teams and the TTPs are standard methods used by multiple cyber actors that have led to numerous compromises.

Last week, CISA announced a new national campaign, Secure Our World, and one of the key elements is for technology providers (i.e., software manufacturers) to secure their products – protecting customers by making products secure by design. Technology providers know that individual and business consumers use the products they create every day. These products and systems are under constant attack by threat actors seeking to disrupt our way of life and steal data.

As America’s Cyber Defense Agency, CISA is charged with safeguarding our nation against ever-evolving cyber threats and to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on every hour of every day. Ensuring software is secure by design will help keep every organization and every American more secure.

We know that neither the government nor industry can solve this problem alone, we must work together. We continue to call on every software company to commit to secure by design principles and take that critical next step of publishing a roadmap that lays out their plan to create products that are secure by design “out of the box”.

Featured

  • Pragmatism, Productivity, and the Push for Accountability in 2025-2026

    Every year, the security industry debates whether artificial intelligence is a disruption, an enabler, or a distraction. By 2025, that conversation matured, where AI became a working dimension in physical identity and access management (PIAM) programs. Observations from 2025 highlight this turning point in AI’s role in access control and define how security leaders are being distinguished based on how they apply it. Read Now

  • Report: Cyber Attackers Continue to Turn to AI-Based Tools to Avoid Detection

    Comcast Business recently released its 2025 Cybersecurity Threat Report, a comprehensive analysis of 34.6 billion cybersecurity events detected between June 1,2024 and May 31, 2025. Now in its third year, the report offers business leaders a unique perspective into the evolving threat landscape and provides actionable insights to help organizations strengthen their defenses and align cybersecurity with business risk. Read Now

  • Axis Communications Creates AI-powered Video Surveillance Orchestra

    What if cameras could not only see the world, but interpret it—and respond like orchestra musicians reading sheet music: instantly, precisely, and in perfect harmony? That’s what global network technology leader Axis Communications set to find out. Read Now

  • Just as Expected

    GSX produced a wonderful tradeshow earlier this week. Monday was surprisingly strong in the morning, and the afternoon wasn’t bad at all. That’s Monday’s results and asking attendees to travel on Sunday. Just a quick hint, no one wants to give up their weekend to travel and set up an exhibit booth. I’m just saying. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • GSX
  • NOLA: The Crescent City

    Twenty years later we finds ourselves in New Orleans. Twenty years ago the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina forced exhibitors and attendees to look elsewhere for tradeshow floor space. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • GSX

New Products

  • Mobile Safe Shield

    Mobile Safe Shield

    SafeWood Designs, Inc., a manufacturer of patented bullet resistant products, is excited to announce the launch of the Mobile Safe Shield. The Mobile Safe Shield is a moveable bullet resistant shield that provides protection in the event of an assailant and supplies cover in the event of an active shooter. With a heavy-duty steel frame, quality castor wheels, and bullet resistant core, the Mobile Safe Shield is a perfect addition to any guard station, security desks, courthouses, police stations, schools, office spaces and more. The Mobile Safe Shield is incredibly customizable. Bullet resistant materials are available in UL 752 Levels 1 through 8 and include glass, white board, tack board, veneer, and plastic laminate. Flexibility in bullet resistant materials allows for the Mobile Safe Shield to blend more with current interior décor for a seamless design aesthetic. Optional custom paint colors are also available for the steel frame.

  • Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden Door Controls has relaunched its CV-7600 card readers in response to growing market demand for a more secure alternative to standard proximity credentials that can be easily cloned. CV-7600 readers support MIFARE DESFire EV1 & EV2 encryption technology credentials, making them virtually clone-proof and highly secure.

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.