Bonum Certa Men Certa

U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Repeating or Parroting Microsoft Talking Points

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Dec 17, 2023

Secure by Design Alert: How Manufacturers Can Protect Customers by Eliminating Default Passwords

FOUR days ago we politely complained that some media echoed talking points about "Log4Shell" being a major threat. It was patched more than 2 years ago, so why does this FUD make a comeback all of a sudden?

CISA, where Microsoft writes policies, is at it again. We want to alert readers, at the very least by citing the material in question. We want to demonstrate our point by at least bringing up one media report and the original from CISA. Yes, there are more examples, but 2 ought to suffice.

"log4j" - connected to the above - is still being brought up this year by the Linux Foundation (by media sites that it is funding! Linux Foundation head honchos worship Bill Gates for computer security) and it is still getting milked by the Microsofters, an associate reminds us, and it is now softening the heads of government officials. see the 2 CISA items below (from Daily Links):

  1. CISA urges vendors to get rid of default passwords

    The call to action comes shortly after CISA, the National Security Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence released additional secure-by-design guidance for open source software development. The release is a product of the Enduring Security Framework’s Software Supply Chain Working Group, which is made up of NSA, ODNI and CISA. The guidance is a part of a larger effort to secure the software supply chain that stems from an executive order on improving U.S. cybersecurity.

    “Software incorporated and/or utilized through open source may have embedded issues. It is imperative that we pay close attention to how these modules are bundled with the software at release,” the release said.

  2. Securing the Software Supply Chain: Recommended Practices for Managing Open-Source Software and Software Bill of Materials [PDF]

    Similarly, the ESF Software Supply Chain Working Panel established this second phase of guidance to provide further details for several of the Phase I Recommended Practices Guide activities. This guidance may be used to describe, assess, and measure security practices relative to the software lifecycle. Additionally, the suggested practices listed herein may be applied across a software supply chain’s acquisition, deployment, and operational phases. The software supplier is responsible for liaising between the customer and software developer. Accordingly, vendor responsibilities include ensuring the integrity and security of software via contractual agreements, software releases and updates, notifications, and the mitigation of vulnerabilities. This guidance contains recommended best practices and standards to aid customers in these tasks.

    This document aligns with industry best practices and principles that software developers and software suppliers can reference. These principles include managing open-source software and software bills of materials to maintain and provide awareness about software security.

Also note their use of the term "open-source" instead of the normal "open source". The hallmark of openwashing PR.

We kindly and humbly wish not to speculate or comment any further. We just present that for what it is.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 02/06/2025: Political Leftovers, DRM, and Patents
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Microsoft Spins Layoffs as "Slop", Frontier Settles Lawsuit
Links for the day
When You Publicly Boast About Wanting to Violently Attack People (Even Colleagues) Finding a Job Will Prove Difficult
there's a lesson to be learned here
The Web We Lost, the Information Lost Due to Microsoft's Attacks on Companies Like Yahoo! (Before the LLM Slop Frenzy)
When it comes to news sites, what can we say?
Covering Corruption in Poland, Including a War on Science (Due to Bad Politicians)
What we're about to show is that skilled and experienced scientists in Poland are besieged by bureaucrats
Gemini Links 02/06/2025: "Star Wars Day" and "Security Day"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 01, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 01, 2025
The Openwashing Shills Initiative (OSI) - Part II: Lying to the IRS is a Big Issue
The OSI of today pretends to be something that it is not
Bloodlust and Love of Blades (Fascination With Murder) Nothing New Among Microsofters
Violence is not a joke and no group is magically entitled to make such "jokes"
Links 01/06/2025: Bird Flu, Food Price Inflation, and Growing US-China Hostilities
Links for the day
Links 01/06/2025: "Vibe Coding" Turns Out to be a Fraud and Amazon Merits Boycott, Argue Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/06/2025: "Stardust" and Ideal PC Setup
Links for the day
Links 01/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, "It's FOSS" Still Promoting Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/06/2025: Simplification and Networks Everywhere
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 31, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 31, 2025
Google Bribes EFF. EFF Promotes LLM Slop as 'Fair Use'. To GAFAM It's a Low-Cost Lobby Hedge.
So the bribes pay off ("slush fund") and the word spreads
Slopwatch: Fake Text and Images, Financial Bubbles, and Scams in "Intelligent" Clothing
Sometimes what they mean by "AI" is just cheap labour somewhere else, as we discussed in IRC a few hours ago
Why Microsoft is Collapsing (Similar to What's Happening at IBM), As Insiders See It
IBM seems like one heck of a mess
Reliable Computing Means Free (Libre) Computing
Sites that want to promote security ought to deal with the biggest issues
Links 31/05/2025: US Court Orders Sides With RFE/RL, War Updates From Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/05/2025: ARM Server and power_supply Subsystem
Links for the day
Links 31/05/2025: Slop Stigmatised as Disinformation, Catalyst/Driver of "Death of Communication"
Links for the day
Common Sense 101: Do Not Write Blog Posts Saying You Want to Murder Colleagues (or Yourself)
Only crazy people would think stabbings are a joke
Microsoft Bankruptcy
"Microsoft unit in Russia to file for bankruptcy, database shows"
Techrights Does Not Compete With LLM Slop, It Exposes the Bastards, Plagiarists and Scammers Who Do That
People like Scam Altman, still facing a lawsuit from his own sister for sexual abuse against her
Links 31/05/2025: Microsoft-Connected Builder.ai is a Fraud and US is Purging Students Based on Race/Nationality
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/05/2025: Limmat, Doomscrollers, and Arguments Parsing
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 30, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 30, 2025