National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) Validating the Integrity of Computing Devices Building Block, 17043-17045 [2020-06264]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 59 (Thursday, March 26, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17043-17045]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-06264]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No.: 200313-0079]


National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) Validating 
the Integrity of Computing Devices Building Block

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
invites organizations to provide products and technical expertise to 
support and demonstrate security platforms for the Validating the 
Integrity of Computing Devices project. This notice is the initial step 
for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in 
collaborating with technology companies to address cybersecurity 
challenges identified under the Validating the Integrity of Computing 
Devices project. Participation in the building block is open to all 
interested organizations.

DATES: Collaborative activities will commence as soon as enough 
completed and signed letters of interest have been returned to address 
all the necessary components and capabilities, but no earlier than 
April 27, 2020.

ADDRESSES: The NCCoE is located at 9700 Great Seneca Highway, 
Rockville, MD 20850. Letters of interest must be submitted to 
[email protected] or via hardcopy to National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, NCCoE; 9700 Great Seneca Highway, Rockville, 
MD 20850. Organizations whose letters of interest are accepted in 
accordance with the process set forth in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
section of this notice will be asked to sign a consortium Cooperative 
Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NIST. An NCCoE 
consortium CRADA template can be found at: https://nccoe.nist.gov/node/138.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nakia Grayson via email to 
[email protected]; by telephone 301-975-0200 or by mail to 
National Institute of Standards and Technology, NCCoE; 9700 Great 
Seneca Highway, Rockville, MD 20850. Additional details about the 
Validating the Integrity of Computing Devices project are available at 
https://www.nccoe.nist.gov/projects/building-blocks/supply-chain-assurance.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Interested parties must contact NIST to 
request a letter of interest template to be completed and submitted to 
NIST. Letters of interest will be accepted on a first come, first 
served basis. When the building block has been completed, NIST will 
post a notice on the NCCoE Validating the Integrity of Computing 
Devices website at https://www.nccoe.nist.gov/projects/building-blocks/supply-chain-assurance announcing the completion of the building block 
and informing the public that it will no longer accept letters of 
interest for this building block.
    Background: The NCCoE, part of NIST, is a public-private 
collaboration for accelerating the widespread adoption of integrated 
cybersecurity tools and technologies. The NCCoE brings together experts 
from industry, government, and academia under one roof to develop 
practical, interoperable cybersecurity approaches that address the 
real-world needs of complex Information Technology (IT) systems. By 
accelerating dissemination and use of these integrated tools and 
technologies for protecting IT assets, the NCCoE will enhance trust in 
U.S. IT communications, data, and storage systems; reduce risk for 
companies and individuals using IT systems; and encourage development 
of innovative, job-creating cybersecurity products and services.
    Process: NIST is soliciting responses from all sources of relevant 
security

[[Page 17044]]

capabilities (see below) to enter into a Cooperative Research and 
Development Agreement (CRADA) to provide products and technical 
expertise to support and demonstrate security platforms for the 
Validating the Integrity of Computing Devices project. The full 
building block can be viewed at: https://www.nccoe.nist.gov/projects/building-blocks/supply-chain-assurance.
    Interested parties should contact NIST using the information 
provided in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice. 
NIST will then provide each interested party with a letter of interest 
template, which the party must complete, certify that it is accurate, 
and submit to NIST. NIST will contact interested parties if there are 
questions regarding the responsiveness of the letters of interest to 
the building block objective or requirements identified below. NIST 
will select participants who have submitted complete letters of 
interest on a first come, first served basis within each category of 
product components or capabilities listed below up to the number of 
participants in each category necessary to carry out this building 
block. However, there may be continuing opportunity to participate even 
after initial activity commences. Selected participants will be 
required to enter into a consortium CRADA with NIST (for reference, see 
ADDRESSES section above). NIST published a notice in the Federal 
Register on October 19, 2012 (77 FR 64314) inviting U.S. companies to 
enter into National Cybersecurity Excellence Partnerships (NCEPs) in 
furtherance of the NCCoE. For this demonstration project, NCEP partners 
will not be given priority for participation.
    Building Block Objective: The objective of this project is to 
produce example implementations to demonstrate how organizations can 
verify that the internal components of their purchased computing 
devices are genuine and have not been altered during the manufacturing 
and distribution process. Additionally, this project will demonstrate 
how to inspect the processes that verify that the components in a 
computing device match the attributes and measurements declared by the 
manufacturer. This project is intended to help organizations decrease 
the risk of a compromise to products in a specific stage of their 
supply chain, which may result in risks to the end user. A detailed 
description of the Validating the Integrity of Computing Devices 
project is available at: https://www.nccoe.nist.gov/projects/building-blocks/supply-chain-assurance.
    Requirements: Each responding organization's letter of interest 
should identify which security platform component(s) or capability(ies) 
it is offering. Letters of interest should not include company 
proprietary information, and all components and capabilities must be 
commercially available. Components are listed in section 3 of the 
Validating the Computing Devices project description (for reference, 
please see the link in the Process section above) and include, but are 
not limited to:

 Computing devices, including laptops, servers, and mobile 
devices
 Configuration management software
    [cir] vulnerability scanning
    [cir] detection
    [cir] patch management
    [cir] version control
    [cir] synchronization
    [cir] firmware
 Asset inventory software
    [cir] asset management
    [cir] asset discovery
 Security information and event management (SIEM)
    [cir] event detection
    [cir] log management
    [cir] exfiltration activity
    [cir] unauthorized activity
    [cir] anomalous activity
 Certificate authority

    Each responding organization's letter of interest should identify 
how their products address one or more of the following desired 
solution characteristics in section 3 of the Validating the Integrity 
of Computing Devices project (for reference, please see the link in the 
PROCESS section above):
    1. Use verifiable and authentic artifacts that manufacturers 
produce during the manufacturing and integration process.
    2. Detect malicious component swaps of the computing device.
    3. Manage the automation process when accepting the delivery of a 
computing device and throughout the operational lifecycle of the 
device.
    4. Inspect computing devices to verify that the components in a 
delivered (or in-use) system computing device match the attributes and 
measurements declared by the manufacturer.
    Responding organizations need to understand and, in their letters 
of interest, commit to provide:
    1. Access for all participants' project teams to component 
interfaces and the organization's experts necessary to make functional 
connections among security platform components.
    2. Support for development and demonstration of the Validating the 
Integrity of Computing Devices project for multiple sectors in NCCoE 
facilities which will be conducted in a manner consistent with the 
following standards and guidance: FIPS 200, FIPS 201, SP 800-53, SP 
800-147B, SP 800-155 and SP 800-161. Additional details about the 
Validating the Integrity of Computing Devices project are available at: 
https://www.nccoe.nist.gov/projects/building-blocks/supply-chain-assurance.
    NIST cannot guarantee that all of the products proposed by 
respondents will be used in the demonstration. Each prospective 
participant will be expected to work collaboratively with NIST staff 
and other project participants under the terms of the consortium CRADA 
in the development of the Validating the Integrity of Computing Devices 
project. Prospective participants' contribution to the collaborative 
effort will include assistance in establishing the necessary interface 
functionality, connection and set-up capabilities and procedures, 
demonstration harnesses, environmental and safety conditions for use, 
integrated platform user instructions, and demonstration plans and 
scripts necessary to demonstrate the desired capabilities. Each 
participant will train NIST personnel, as necessary, to operate its 
product in capability demonstrations. Following successful 
demonstrations, NIST will publish a description of the security 
platform and its performance characteristics sufficient to permit other 
organizations to develop and deploy security platforms that meet the 
security objectives of the Validating the Integrity of Computing 
Devices project. These descriptions will be public information.
    Under the terms of the consortium CRADA, NIST will support 
development of interfaces among participants' products by providing IT 
infrastructure, laboratory facilities, office facilities, collaboration 
facilities, and staff support to component composition, security 
platform documentation, and demonstration activities.
    The dates of the demonstration of the Validating the Integrity of 
Computing Devices' capability will be announced on the NCCoE website at 
least two weeks in advance at https://nccoe.nist.gov/. The expected 
outcome of the demonstration is to improve supply chain assurance 
within the enterprise. Participating organizations will gain from the 
knowledge that their products are interoperable with other 
participants' offerings.
    For additional information on the NCCoE governance, business 
processes, and NCCoE operational structure, visit

[[Page 17045]]

the NCCoE website https://nccoe.nist.gov/.

Kevin A. Kimball,
Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 2020-06264 Filed 3-25-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-13-P