In a recent development, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint guidance document titled Identity and Access Management: Developer and Vendor Challenges on October 4, 2023. The publication, an advisory directive, was generated by the Enduring Security Framework (ESF), a CISA and NSA-guided cross-sector task force that works to mitigate potential risks to the U.S. National Security Systems and safeguard the critical infrastructure.
This latest advisory issuance comes on the heels of the ESF’s preliminary guidance on identity related matters. The responsibility of iron-clad identity and access management falls onto developers and vendors who are expected to navigate the technology gaps that both CISA and NSA have warned about.
The joint warning from these high-profile agencies underscore the mounting concerns related to cybersecurity and the seriousness with which corporate legal professionals must handle these issues. As organizations worldwide continue to grapple with the cascading after-effects of technology failure, it becomes increasingly important for legal practitioners to remain abreast of the latest updates in the field of cybersecurity.
The document emphasizes the challenges faced by developers and vendors in managing identity and access, showing more than ever the importance for legal professionals in multinational corporations and big law firms to understand the implications of this guidance, which may impact not only their internal cyber risk management strategies but also their clients’ mitigation efforts.