The National Security Agency, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have collaborated with their counterparts in Australia, Canada and New Zealand in developing a telecommunication industry cybersecurity guidance to deter China-linked malicious actors.
The defensive measures in the nine-page cybersecurity information sheet call for stronger system visibility through a detailed understanding of network traffic, data flow and user activity, NSA said Tuesday.
The guidance, titled “Enhanced Visibility and Hardening Guidance for Communications Infrastructure,” may also be useful to organizations using enterprise equipment on-premise, the agency added.
Proactive Cyber Defense Approaches
Dave Luber, NSA cybersecurity director, pointed out that vigilance is crucial in network defense. “Always have eyes on your systems and patch and address known vulnerabilities before they become targets,” he stressed.
To enhance visibility for systems at network perimeters, the guidance suggests a log for all configuration and connection changes, along with alerts on any unexpected activity. The guide also recommends several best practices to tighten telecom companies’ cybersecurity, through such measures as securing password use and storage, timely patching and upgrading of devices and closing all unused, unverified or unencrypted protocols.
Specific hardening approaches were recommended to disable Cisco operating systems that were previously targets of China-affiliated hackers.
