CISA launches US federal vulnerability disclosure platform
Bug hunters who want to help the US federal government secure their online assets can now source all the relevant information from a vulnerability disclosure policy (VDP) platform offered by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“Through this crowdsourcing platform, Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies will now be able to coordinate with the security research community in a streamlined fashion and those reporting incidents enjoy a single, usable website to facilitate submission of findings. The platform encourages collaboration and information sharing between the public and private sectors by allowing uniquely skilled researchers to submit vulnerability reports, which agencies will use to understand and address vulnerabilities that were previously unidentified,” Eric Goldstein, Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity, CISA, explained.
The VDP platform
Binding Operational Directive 20-01, released in September 2020, mandates that all FCEB agencies must develop and publish a vulnerability disclosure policy.
At the moment, this newly established VDP platform collects eleven vulnerability disclosure programs, published by the:
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
- Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB)
- Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
- Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Department of Labor (DOL)
- Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB)
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
- Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC)
- Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA)
This newly established VDP platform is run by BugCrowd, a bug bounty and vulnerability disclosure company, and EnDyna, a government contractor that provides science and technology-based solutions to several US federal agencies.
The two companies will conduct an initial assessment of the vulnerability reports submitted, and the agencies will focus on those reports “that have real impact,” Goldstein noted.
Each of the programs describe what internet-accessible information system, application (both web and mobile), or websites owned, operated, or controlled by the institution are in scope, the guidelines, and their expectations.
Generally, the agencies prohibit bug hunters to engage in physical testing of facilities, social engineering and other non-technical vulnerability testing, as well as testing that could impair access to or damage a system or data (DoS, resource exhaustion, brute force testing, etc.)
“This new platform allows agencies to gain greater insights into potential vulnerabilities, thereby improving their cybersecurity posture. This approach also enables significant government-wide cost savings, as agencies no longer need to develop their own, separate systems to enable reporting and triage of identified vulnerabilities,” Goldstein concluded.