The Increasing Need for Secure IAM Practices: Insights from CISA and NSA

Government CISA, NSA Publish Guidance on IAM Challenges for Developers, Vendors

October 5, 2023

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have recently released new guidance on implementing identity and access management (IAM) that focuses on the challenges faced by developers and vendors. The document, titled “Identity and Access Management: Developer and Vendor Challenges,” provides best practices to help organizations mitigate threats to IAM and reduce their impact.

Understanding the Threats

The guidance highlights several techniques that threat actors commonly use to exploit IAM vulnerabilities. These include creating new accounts for persistence, taking over employee accounts, forcing authentication through vulnerability exploitation, creating alternative entry points, compromising passwords, exploiting default credentials, and obtaining access to systems to extract stored credentials. Iranian threat actors, in particular, have been observed exploiting IAM vulnerabilities to compromise credentials, escalate privileges, and establish persistence. This access can then be leveraged for data exfiltration, encryption, and other malicious activities.

According to CISA and the NSA, threat actors have also increasingly been exploiting the Single Sign-On (SSO) functions to gain access to protected resources within organizations. These broad-spectrum attacks require a comprehensive IAM solution that includes operational awareness of the environment to detect anomalies and attribute them to adversary exploits.

Mitigations for IAM Threats

To mitigate threats to IAM, organizations need to focus on several key areas. These include:

• Identity Governance: Organizations should prioritize managing user accounts, their privileges, and access to resources.
• Environmental Hardening: Both software and hardware components of the IAM solution should be secured to reduce vulnerabilities.
• Identity Federation and SSO: Implementing identity federation and SSO can simplify identity management and enhance account security by not relying solely on passwords.
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Organizations should adopt MFA to strengthen authentication and reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
• IAM Monitoring and Auditing: Proactive monitoring and auditing of IAM activities can help detect and respond to anomalies in real-time, minimizing the impact of vulnerability exploitation.

Implementing these security best practices can help organizations prevent various types of attacks, including phishing, social engineering, unsanctioned access to sensitive data and resources, and credential stuffing. By reviewing the new guidance and implementing these mitigations, organizations can assess their IAM posture, strengthen their environments, and minimize the potential impact of IAM weakness exploitation.

The Urgency of IAM Security

CISA and the NSA emphasize that America’s critical infrastructure is a prime target for various threat sources, including nation-state actors and terrorist organizations. The agencies explicitly state that they are concerned about credible threats to IAM and SSO. It is crucial that all organizations, regardless of their size or industry, take the necessary steps to enhance their IAM security posture.

Security and Philosophical Discussion

The release of this new guidance by CISA and the NSA underscores the growing importance of IAM in the face of increasing cyber threats. IAM plays a critical role in ensuring the security and integrity of an organization’s resources, systems, and sensitive data. As threat actors become more sophisticated and exploit vulnerabilities in IAM solutions, it is imperative that developers and vendors prioritize security and resilience.

The Role of Developers and Vendors

Developers and vendors have a significant responsibility in building and providing secure IAM solutions. By incorporating security best practices into the development process, such as secure coding principles, regular vulnerability assessments, and code audits, these stakeholders can help reduce the likelihood of vulnerabilities being introduced into IAM solutions.

In addition to building secure solutions, developers and vendors should stay informed about emerging IAM threats and actively collaborate with security experts and organizations like CISA and the NSA to address these challenges. Regularly updating their solutions to address known vulnerabilities and adopting industry-wide best practices can go a long way in protecting organizations from IAM-related attacks.

Editorial: A Call for Enhanced IAM Security

The release of the guidance by CISA and the NSA serves as a reminder that IAM security requires continuous attention and improvement. Organizations must take the following steps to enhance their IAM security posture:

1. Evaluate IAM solutions: Organizations should assess their current IAM solutions against the recommended best practices in the new guidance. Identifying gaps and vulnerabilities is the first step towards implementing necessary improvements.
2. Implement recommended mitigations: It is crucial to act upon the guidance provided by CISA and the NSA. Organizations should prioritize implementing the recommended mitigations, such as identity governance, environmental hardening, identity federation and SSO, MFA, and IAM monitoring and auditing.
3. Stay informed and collaborate: Stakeholders, including developers, vendors, and organizations, should stay abreast of the evolving IAM threat landscape and actively collaborate with industry experts and government agencies to mitigate risks.
4. Incorporate security into the development process: Developers must prioritize security throughout the development lifecycle of IAM solutions. This includes following secure coding practices, conducting regular vulnerability assessments and code audits, and promptly addressing any identified vulnerabilities.
5. Regularly update IAM solutions: Developers and vendors should proactively release updates to address known vulnerabilities and incorporate security patches to ensure that IAM solutions remain resilient against emerging threats.

By taking these steps, organizations can strengthen their IAM security posture and better defend against the evolving threat landscape.

Conclusion

The release of the guidance by CISA and the NSA sheds light on the significant challenges faced by developers and vendors in implementing secure IAM solutions. As IAM continues to be a prime target for threat actors, organizations must prioritize the implementation of recommended mitigations and best practices to protect their resources and data. Enhanced IAM security is not only crucial for the resilience of individual organizations but also vital for the security of critical infrastructure and national security as a whole.