Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Compliance

Senator Asks DoD to Secure Its Websites

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Tuesday asked the chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to take immediate action to ensure that the organization’s websites use HTTPS.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Tuesday asked the chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to take immediate action to ensure that the organization’s websites use HTTPS.

The senator noted that some of the DoD’s websites, such as the ones belonging to the NSA, the Army and the Air Force, do use HTTPS by default and certificates trusted by major web browsers, but many other sites either don’t use HTTPS at all or they rely on digital certificates issued by the DoD Root Certificate Authority. Certificates issued by the DoD itself trigger security warnings in browsers.

The list of websites that do not use HTTPS includes the ones of the Navy, Marines, and even the CIO’s official website hosted at dodcio.defense.gov.

Sen. Wyden believes the security warnings displayed for HTTP sites will “erode the public’s trust in the Department and its ability to defend against sophisticated cyber threats” and “actively degrade the public’s security by teaching users to treat security warnings as irrelevant.”

The lawmaker has pointed out that memo M-15-13 issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 2015 requires all federal agencies to secure their websites by enabling HTTPS and enforcing HSTS. Furthermore, a Binding Operational Directive issued last year by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requires all agencies to start using web and email security technologies such as HTTPS, DMARC and STARTTLS.

The senator also noted in his letter that Google’s Chrome web browser will soon start marking HTTP pages with a red “Not Secure” warning.

The CIO of the DoD, Dana Deasy, has been instructed to direct all agencies to enable HTTPS with HSTS on all public web services, obtain and deploy certificates trusted by major browsers, and evaluate the use of shorter-lived certificates such as the ones offered by Let’s Encrypt. An action plan and progress report must be provided by the DoD by July 20.

The senator is well regarded by many in the cybersecurity industry for his initiatives. One of his advisers in privacy researcher and activist Christopher Soghoian, formerly principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Related: Security of U.S. Government Sites Improved Only Slightly

Related: DMARC Not Implemented on Most White House Email Domains

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Learn how the LOtL threat landscape has evolved, why traditional endpoint hardening methods fall short, and how adaptive, user-aware approaches can reduce risk.

Watch Now

Join the summit to explore critical threats to public cloud infrastructure, APIs, and identity systems through discussions, case studies, and insights into emerging technologies like AI and LLMs.

Register

People on the Move

Matthew Cowell has assumed the role of VP of Strategic Alliances at Nozomi Networks. He previously served in the same role at Dragos.

Bret Arsenault is retiring from his full-time role after 35 years at Microsoft.

Social engineering defense platform Doppel has appointed Bobby Ford as Chief Strategy and Experience Officer.

More People On The Move

Expert Insights

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest cybersecurity news, threats, and expert insights. Unsubscribe at any time.