United States President Joe Biden has signed a National Security Memorandum (NSM) requiring national security systems to implement network cybersecurity measures that are at least as good as those required of federal civilian networks.

The requirements for federal civilian networks were laid out in Biden’s Executive Order 14028 (EO 14028) issued May 12 2021. The new memo, signed Wednesday, specifies how the provisions of EO 14028 apply to national security systems. 

The NSM establishes timelines and guidance for how cybersecurity requirements, including multi-factor authentication, encryption, cloud technologies and endpoint detection services, will be implemented.

It also requires agencies to identify their national security systems and report cyber incidents that occur on them to the National Security Agency (NSA). 

Commenting on this particular requirement of the NSM, Mark Manglicmot, vice president of security services at Arctic Wolf, said: “To defend something, you need to have an asset inventory to know what your most critical systems and data are. This directive mandates this best practice.”  

The NSM further authorizes the NSA to create Binding Operational Directives that require agencies to take specific actions against known or suspected cyber-threats and vulnerabilities. In addition, it requires the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security to share BODs and “learn from each other to determine if any of the requirements from one agency’s directive should be adopted by the other.” 

Under the new memo, agencies are required to secure tools known as cross-domain solutions that transfer data between classified and unclassified systems. 

In a statement released Wednesday, the White House said: Modernizing our cybersecurity defenses and protecting all federal networks is a priority for the Biden Administration, and this National Security Memorandum raises the bar for the cybersecurity of our most sensitive systems.”

James McQuiggan, security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, noted that the memo omitted any requirements around cybersecurity education or creating a security culture among users. 

He said: “When users can spot social engineering attacks, have the necessary training to work in Network or Security Operations Centers and understand the importance of developing secure code, it can strengthen the resiliency of the organization or government systems and significantly reduce the risk of a cyber-attack.”

Managed infrastructure solutions company, 11:11 Systems, has acquired Texas-based cloud services provider, iland. 

The completion of the acquisition was announced on Thursday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Headquartered in Houston with regional offices in London and Sydney, iland delivers cloud services including Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) from its cloud regions throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

11:11 Systems said it intends to leverage iland’s award-winning Secure Cloud Console, which natively combines deep layered security, predictive analytics and compliance to deliver visibility and easy management for iland’s cloud services.

The deal follows 11:11 Systems’ recent acquisition of Green Cloud Defense, a channel-only, cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider. 

“By adding iland’s steady 25% YOY momentum to 11:11 Systems’ expanding national network of MSPs, VARs and IT consultants, a hyper-growth pathway has been created,” said 11:11 Systems in a statement.

Brett Diamond, CEO of 11:11 Systems, said his company’s recent acquisitions were motivated by making cybersecurity more straightforward for its customers. 

“CIOs and IT leaders are being pushed to address increasing numbers of security threats, application vulnerabilities and network weaknesses that can leave organizations exposed to data breaches; at the same time, they are tasked with laying the right foundation within their infrastructure to embrace hybrid cloud, navigate sophisticated application requirements, artificial intelligence and more while data and devices continue to multiply exponentially,” said Diamond.

He added: “11:11 Systems is focused on significantly simplifying our customers’ approach to cloud, security and connectivity to drive greater security, innovation, and responsiveness and adding iland and Green Cloud as core ingredient platforms substantively advances this mission.”

For iland, the deal brings an opportunity for expansion and innovation, according to the company’s CTO, Justin Giardina. 

“Joining 11:11 Systems, which now includes Green Cloud, will open up the doors of innovation even wider with new opportunities to expand services across the iland platform, which will further enhance our customers’ ability to manage and monitor their hybrid environments,” said Giardina.

Cybersecurity researchers at Kaspersky have discovered a third known case of a firmware bootkit in the wild.

The kit, which made its first appearance in the wild in the spring of 2021, has been named MoonBounce. Researchers are confident that the campaign is the work of well-known Chinese-speaking advanced persistent threat (APT) actor APT41.

MoonBounce demonstrates a more complicated attack flow and greater technical sophistication than previously discovered bootkits LoJax and MosaicRegressor.

The malicious implant was found hiding inside the CORE_DXE component of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware. UEFI firmware is critical because its code is responsible for booting up a device and passing control to the software that loads the operating system (OS). 

Once MoonBounce’s components have made their way into the operating system, they reach out to a command & control server to retrieve further malicious payloads, which Kaspersky researchers could not retrieve.

The code to boot the device is stored in a non-volatile component external to the hard drive called the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) flash. 

Researchers said that Bootkits of this kind are extremely hard to detect because the code they target is located outside of the device’s hard drive in an area that most security solutions do not scan as standard. 

Firmware bootkits are also difficult to delete. They can’t be removed simply by reformatting a hard drive or reinstalling an OS because the code is launched before the operating system.

“The infection chain itself does not leave any traces on the hard drive, since its components operate in memory only, thus facilitating a fileless attack with a small footprint,” noted researchers. 

While investigating MoonBounce, researchers appeared to detect a link between the bootkit and Microcin malware used by the SixLittleMonkeys threat actor.

“While we can’t definitely connect the additional malware implants found during our research to MoonBounce specifically, it does appear as if some Chinese-speaking threat actors are sharing tools with one another to aid in their various campaigns; there especially seems to be a low confidence connection between MoonBounce and Microcin,” said Denis Legezo, senior security researcher with GReAT (Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team).

Applications have opened for the latest NCSC for Startups program, which is focusing on companies developing products to protect SMEs from ransomware.

The program, designed to help the growth and development of the UK’s most promising cybersecurity startup firms, was launched last June. It is run by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and Plexal, and is a successor to the successful NCSC Cyber Accelerator program.

The first companies to participate in this new program were announced in August.

For its next cohort, NCSC for Startups is inviting applications from startups creating products designed to protect SMEs from surging ransomware attacks. Specifically, these are companies that:

Can defend SMEs from ransomware by providing accessible, low-cost protection
Encourage firms to implement secure backups to minimize the impact of an attack
Address risks posed by remote desktop protocol (RDP) as more businesses and individuals implement home and remote working

Cyber-criminals have dramatically increased their targeting of SMEs during the pandemic, with many of these businesses having to undertake rapid digital transformation projects. Yet many of these firms do not have the necessary cybersecurity skills or tools to protect themselves.

Successful applicants will receive continuous onboarding for 12 months, working with leading cybersecurity experts to develop, adapt and test their products.

Chris Ensor, deputy director for cyber growth at the NCSC, commented: “Ransomware presents the most serious cyber security threat to the UK, and it is vital that organizations protect themselves.

“Our latest NCSC for Startups challenge provides a great opportunity for innovative companies to collaborate with us in the fight against ransomware and strengthen the UK’s defenses.”

Saj Huq, director of innovation at Plexal, said: “Ransomware doesn’t just affect large, established companies: there is a growing risk to SMEs that make up the backbone of our economy, and anyone who lives and works online are potential victims.  

“This is a unique and game-changing opportunity for startups to work on the biggest cyber-threat around alongside experts from the NCSC and industry who are working day in, day out, to keep the UK safe – and I hope they respond to this call with a sense of urgency and mission.”

Interested companies can submit their applications at: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/ncsc-for-startups/join-the-ncsc-for-start-ups.

The NCSC for Startups program forms part of the UK’s National Cyber Strategy, unveiled in December.