Source URL: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2025/01/16/cisa-and-partners-release-call-action-close-national-software-understanding-gap
Source: Alerts
Title: CISA and Partners Release Call to Action to Close the National Software Understanding Gap
Feedly Summary: Today, CISA—in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E), and the National Security Agency (NSA)—published Closing the Software Understanding Gap. This report urgently implores the U.S. government to take decisive and coordinated action.
Software understanding refers to assessing software-controlled systems across all conditions. Mission owners and operators often lack adequate capabilities for software understanding because technology manufacturers build software that greatly outstrips the ability to understand it. This gap, along with the lack of secure by design software being created by technology manufacturers, can lead to the exploitation of software vulnerabilities.
The U.S. government has engaged in activities that have paved the way toward improving software understanding, including research investments, mission agency initiatives, and policy actions. This report further explores the opportunity for enhanced coordination to strengthen technical foundations and progress towards a more vigorous understanding of software on a national scale. To learn more about development practices and principles that build cybersecurity into the design and manufacture of technology products, visit CISA’s Secure by Design webpage.
AI Summary and Description: Yes
**Summary:** The report released by CISA and partnered agencies highlights a critical gap in software understanding, particularly regarding software-controlled systems, which could result in unaddressed vulnerabilities. It emphasizes the need for the U.S. government to take coordinated action to improve software security through better design practices and enhanced understanding of software technologies.
**Detailed Description:**
The publication of the report “Closing the Software Understanding Gap” by CISA, along with DARPA, OUSD R&E, and NSA, addresses significant issues within the domain of software security and infrastructure resilience. As technology continues to advance rapidly, gaps in understanding large, complex software systems can lead to severe security vulnerabilities.
Key insights and recommendations from the report include:
– **Software Understanding Gap:**
– The term refers to the challenges faced by mission owners and operators in comprehensively assessing and understanding software-controlled systems.
– This gap is primarily due to the advanced nature of modern software that surpasses the knowledge and capabilities of those responsible for its deployment and management.
– **Secure by Design:**
– The report underscores the importance of “secure by design” principles, emphasizing that technology manufacturers often fail to incorporate robust security features during the software design and manufacturing processes.
– Inadequate secure design practices contribute to vulnerabilities that can be exploited, thereby jeopardizing national security and operational integrity.
– **Government Initiatives:**
– The U.S. government has already made strides through research investments and policy developments aimed at bolstering software understanding.
– However, further collective action and coordination among agencies are necessary to build a more robust understanding and safeguard against potential vulnerabilities associated with software-controlled systems.
– **Call to Action:**
– The report calls for decisive and strategic actions from the U.S. government to facilitate improvements in the understanding of software technologies.
– This is crucial for enhancing cybersecurity measures at a national level and developing frameworks that ensure security is integrated into the design phase of software products.
Professionals in security and compliance domains should recognize the implications of this report as it underscores the importance of understanding the software within their infrastructures and the need for secure design practices to mitigate risks effectively. For further learning, CISA’s Secure by Design webpage offers resources on development practices that inherently improve cybersecurity.