CISA Directs Federal Agencies to Secure Network Devices at the Edge

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has ordered all federal civilian agencies to restrict access to Internet-exposed networking equipment, including firewalls, routers, and load balancers, that allow remote authentication or administration. The directive comes after a surge in attacks targeting previously unknown vulnerabilities in widely used security and networking appliances. The order requires federal departments to limit access so that only authorized users on an agency’s local or internal network can reach the management interfaces of these devices. The move highlights the persistent risk at the network edge, where cyberspies and ransomware gangs are making it increasingly risky for organizations to expose any devices to the public Internet.