June 22, 2021

NSA Funds Development, Release of D3FEND

FT. MEADE, Md. — D3FEND, a framework for cybersecurity professionals to tailor defenses against specific cyber threats is now available through MITRE.  NSA funded MITRE’s research for D3FEND to improve the cybersecurity of National Security Systems, the Department of Defense, and the Defense Industrial Base. The D3FEND technical knowledge base of defensive countermeasures for common offensive techniques is complementary to MITRE’s ATT&CK, a knowledge base of cyber adversary behavior.

June 21, 2021

The Hungarian Code Writers

FORT MEADE, Md. — Most people today are familiar with the Native American Code Talkers of World War II, who used their native languages — often unintelligible to non-members of their tribe — to transmit important tactical communications in the war against Germany and Japan.

June 18, 2021

Science of Security Enhances Research Publishing

FT. MEADE, Md. — This year’s 8th annual Hot Topics of Science of Security (HoTSoS) conference pioneered a new type of cybersecurity conference—one centered on providing community input to ongoing research and collective community participation in defining the next decade of cybersecurity research.

June 17, 2021

NSA Releases Guidance on Securing Unified Communications and Voice and Video over IP Systems

FORT MEADE, Md. — NSA released a Cybersecurity Technical Report today that provides best practices and mitigations for securing Unified Communications (UC) and Voice and Video over IP (VVoIP) call-processing systems. The comprehensive report, “Deploying Secure Unified Communications/Voice and Video over IP Systems,” also describes potential risks to UC/VVoIP systems that aren’t properly secured.

June 7, 2021

Linda Burger, NSA Director of the Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA) elected Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Executive Board Chair

During the 2021 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) National Meeting, Linda Burger, Director of the NSA Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA), was elected to serve as the FLC Executive Board Chair, the organization’s highest elected position. She will serve a two-year term starting in October 2021.

June 4, 2021

Water Shortage

The story about Communications Intelligence (COMINT) and World War II’s Battle of Midway is now well known. The U.S. Navy COMINT system in early 1942 had intercepted detailed information about a major impending Japanese operation against the Americans, scheduled for June. Navy cryptanalysts had solved enough of the Japanese enciphered code system, known to them as JN-25, to provide Admiral Chester Nimitz with detailed intelligence about the enemy naval forces coming against him.

May 28, 2021

Women in STEM: Hieu-Hanh Do, Information System Security Officer

FT. MEADE, Md. — As advances across the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) continue to be pivotal in the way NSA accomplishes our mission, NSA’s office of Capabilities is committed to empowering women to take an active role in that transformation. Read on to find out how Information System Security Officer Hieu-Hanh Do went from becoming an accountant to serving as an Information System Security Officer.

May 19, 2021

NSA’s Role in the President’s Cyber Executive Order

FORT MEADE, Md. — The National Security Agency (NSA) will play an important role in implementing the requirements of an Executive Order (EO) that was recently signed by President Biden. The EO, entitled Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, is designed to modernize cybersecurity defenses, improve information-sharing between the Federal Government and private sector on cyber issues, and strengthen the ability of the United States to respond to cyber incidents when they occur.

May 16, 2021

NSA Heading to Virtual RSA 2021

The 2021 RSA Conference has gone virtual, and NSA will be there! Cybersecurity experts from NSA will be joining peers and leaders from across industry, academia, and more to exchange bold new ideas that enable the cybersecurity industry to continually evolve.

May 14, 2021

NSA, Morgan State University Use Ghidra to Mitigate Vehicle Cyber Vulnerabilities

FT. MEADE, Md. — The National Security Agency recently partnered with Morgan State University to use Ghidra — an NSA-created reverse-engineering tool — to help identify cyber weaknesses in vehicles and improve their resistance to cyber threats.