NSA News & Highlights

March 23, 2022

American Spy Machine From WWII Featured by National Cryptologic Museum Ahead of Reopening

Nicknamed American Dragon, the cryptologic device was constructed by the Signal Security Agency (SSA) in 1944 to assist the British Colossus — a set of computers created by British codebreakers largely to break the German’s Schlusselzusatz SZ-40 Cipher machine.

March 21, 2022

NSA provides expertise at Hack the Port 22

A team of NSA cybersecurity practitioners will join over 150 students participating in HackThePort22, hosted by the Maryland Initiative for Security Innovation (MISI) and inspired by US Cyber Command, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. from March 21-25, 2022.

March 16, 2022

NSA on the road at the Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Conference 2022

FORT MEADE, Md. — Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the International Women Air & Space Museum. For three days it'll also be home to over 1,000 outstanding women in cybersecurity - and the National Security Agency (NSA) will be there.

March 15, 2022

NSA, CISA release Kubernetes Hardening Guidance

The National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a Cybersecurity Technical Report, “Kubernetes Hardening Guidance,” today. This report details threats to Kubernetes environments and provides configuration guidance to minimize risk.

March 8, 2022

Cybersecurity Speaker Series: Ghidra — Beyond the Code

The National Security Agency (NSA) Cybersecurity Collaboration Center released the fourth video in its Cybersecurity Speaker Series today, focusing on Ghidra, NSA’s open source reverse engineering tool. The Speaker Series highlights subject matter experts at NSA sharing insights, lessons, and contributions of their work in cybersecurity.

March 4, 2022

‘Representation is Empowerment’: Black Girls in Cyber Leaders Visit NSA-Washington

In celebration of Black History Month, NSA’s African American Employee Resource Group (AAERG) welcomed Talya Parker, founder and executive director of Black Girls in Cyber (BGiC), to discuss navigating cybersecurity and BGiC’s efforts to diversify the field.

March 1, 2022

NSA Details Network Infrastructure Best Practices

The National Security Agency (NSA) released the “Network Infrastructure Security Guidance” Cybersecurity Technical Report today. The report captures best practices based on the depth and breadth of experience in supporting customers and responding to threats. 

Feb. 18, 2022

Georgia Institute of Technology wins the 2021 NSA Codebreaker Challenge

Today, the National Security Agency announced Georgia Institute of Technology, University of North Georgia and Oregon State University as the first, second and third place winners of the 2021 NSA Codebreaker Challenge (CBC). CBC is an annual cryptanalysis and reverse engineering challenge that is open to students at U.S.-based academic institutions. Each year the challenge offers students a realistic, NSA mission-centric scenario that typifies the work that NSA performs daily in its role defending of the Nation.

Feb. 17, 2022

NSA Publishes Best Practices for Selecting Cisco Password Types

The National Security Agency published guidance today to help administrators secure network infrastructure devices and their credentials. The “Cisco Password Types: Best Practices” Cybersecurity Information Sheet analyzes Cisco’s wide variety of password encryption and hashing schemes to secure passwords stored in configuration files. NSA provides recommendations based on each password type and best practices to help administrators secure sensitive credentials.

Feb. 16, 2022

NSA, FBI, CISA Release Advisory on Protecting Cleared Defense Contractor Networks Against Years-Long Activity by Russian State-Sponsored Actors

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and National Security Agency (NSA) published a joint Cybersecurity Advisory today regarding Russian state-sponsored cyber actors ongoing efforts over the last several years to target U.S. cleared defense contractors. The advisory, “Russian State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Target Cleared Defense Contractor Networks to Obtain Sensitive U.S. Defense Information and Technology,” details the industries and information Russian actors have targeted, common adversary tactics, detection and incident response actions, and mitigation recommendations. NSA and its partners assess that continued targeting is likely and recommend organizations apply the mitigations shared in the joint Cybersecurity Advisory.