What's New

FIRST Beijing TC Program Updated! (19:19 GMT+01)

Program details for the FIRST TC in Beijing are now posted at http://2010.cert.org.cn/program_FIRST_TC_2010.html Registration is also now open for the event that will run 12-14 September, 2010.

FIRST would like to welcome two new teams this month! (23:27 GMT+01)

The United Arab Emirates Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT) sponsored by Symantec CERT (SymCERT) and MyCERT and Internet Identity (IID), USA sponsored by Boeing (BCERT) and AusCERT.

FIRST Volunteer Recognition (14:56 GMT+01)

FIRST would like to thank contributors from the following companies who helped review the latest draft of ISO "vulnerability disclosure" document: SAP; Ricoh; Nokia; SGI; Juniper; Cisco; IBM; Intel; Microsoft; NTT. If you would like to get involved in ISO work please contact first-sec@first.org

Welcome to the new FIRST SC and Board of Directors members (00:21 GMT+01)

FIRST would like to welcome the new members of the FIRST Steering Committee and FIRST.org Inc Board of Directors: Robert Schischka of CERT.at (Austria) and Reneaué Railton of Cisco (USA). We would also like to welcome back our re-elected members: Chris Gibson of Citi CIRT (USA/UK), Pete Allor of IBM (USA) and Steve Adegbite of Microsoft (USA) who was re-elected as the SC Chair. Continuing for another year will be Kurt Sauer of Spinlock Technologies (Japan), Tom Mullen of BT (UK), Yurie Ito of ICANN/JPCERT/CC (Japan), Ken van Wyk of KRvW Associates (USA) and Jordi Aguila of e-LC CSIRT (Spain). Special thanks to Jeff Boerio of Intel for interest in running -- and to Derrick Scholl and Scott McIntyre for their years of service to FIRST!

WELCOME to our new teams approved in May and THANK YOU to their sponsors: (21:42 GMT+01)

Korea Financial Information Sharing & Analysis Center (KF/ISAC), Korea sponsored by KrCERT/CC and JPCERT/CC

Panasonic PSIRT, Japan sponsored by CDI-CIRT and Cisco PSIRT

DnB NOR Security Incident Response Team (DnB NOR IRT), Norway sponsored by NorCERT and ABNAMRO

KDDI Security Operations Center (KDDI-SOC), Japan sponsored by JPCERT/CC and CDI-CIRT

World Bank Group Office of Information Security Incident Response (OISIR), USA sponsored by Sun Microsystems, and Citi CIRT

Neustar Computer Emergency Response Team (NeuCERT), USA sponsored by CERT/CC, USA and Juniper SIRT

Annual Global Risk Summit at Gleneagles Resort in Perthshire, Scotland (20:05 GMT+01)

The Corporate Executive Programme just completed another successful Annual Global Risk Summit at Gleneagles Resort in Perthshire, Scotland. Member companies from McAfee, Unilever, Diageo, Erudine, Eads, and many others were in attendance. Some of the topics discussed included Web 2.0 Architecture and Understanding Risk and Reward in the 21st Century. Clive Room of Portcullis wrote a blog after the meeting that he would like to share. It can be found at http://www.portcullis-security.com/344.php or at http://www.portcullis-security.com/18.php by clicking on CEP Summit 2010. Please visit www.globalcep.com for more information.

FIRST would like to welcome our newest member team (22:16 GMT+01)

FIRST would like to welcome our newest member team, Adobe Product Security Incident Response Team (Adobe PSIRT) sponsored by Microsoft and IBM.

FIRST would like to welcome our newest members approved in March: (14:12 GMT+01)

BANELCO Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRTBANELCO) of Argentina; General Electric Computer Incident Response Team (GE-CIRT) of the USA and Oman National CERT, Sultanate of Oman. We would also like to thank the sponsoring teams: ArCERT, CSIRT Antel; NGFIRST, NCSA-IRST; MyCERT and SingCERT. We'd also like to welcome back the Israeli Government CERT CERTGOVIL!

The 2010 Program is now available online! (18:24 GMT+01)

Visit http://conference.first.org/Program/program.aspx. Also, Don't forget that Early Bird registration rates expire on March 31st. You can register today at http://conference.first.org.

FIRST welcomes three new teams (19:21 GMT+01)

CERT Estonia (CERT-EE) sponsored by SI-CERT and CERT-FI; HSBC Rapid Emergency Action Crisis Team (REACT), USA sponsored by Citi CIRT and Goldman Sachs and Trustwave SpiderLabs CIRT (TWSL-CIRT), USA sponsored by NU-CERT and IBM. Please join us in welcoming the new teams and thanking their sponsors!

ICANN and FIRST are hosting a Joint Cybersecurity Workshop (14:38 GMT+01)

ICANN and FIRST are hosting a Joint Cybersecurity Workshop titled IMPLEMENTING COMPUTER EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS (CERTS) IN AFRICA on March 5th 2010 in Nairobi. For more details, please visit http://nbo.icann.org/full-sched

FIRST Welcomes Neustar to the Sponsorship Team! (19:16 GMT+01)

FIRST would like to welcome Neustar to the 2010 Sponsorship Team! Neustar joins us as a Gold Sponsor and will also be exhibiting at the conference. This is Neustar's first time sponsoring the Annual FIRST Conference.

2010 dates for the Corporate Executive Program! (13:45 GMT+01)

The CEP has released the dates and locations of their next 6 upcoming events. The CEP will hold its Annual 2 day Global Risk Summit at Gleneagles, Scotland this May 5-7, 2010. Four 1 day events will be held throughout the remainder of the year in the UK and the USA. For more event details and information about CEP, please visit www.globalcep.com.

FIRST is accepting theme suggestions for the 23rd Annual FIRST Conference in Vienna in 2011 (19:05 GMT+01)

This is a great opportunity to participate and be a part of the conference, please send your suggestions to Peter Allor at peter.allor@first.org. The theme winner will receive a complimentary registration to the 2011 conference. Suggestions are due by March 31st and the winner will be announced in April. And mark your calendars for attending the conference. The dates are June 12 to 17, 2011!

New Exhibitors for Miami 2010 (21:55 GMT+01)

FIRST would like to welcome and thank two new exhibitors to the 22nd Annual FIRST Conference – DHS National Cyber Security Division’s Control Systems Security Program (CSSP) and NetWitness. This will be their first time exhibiting at the Annual FIRST Conference.

FIRST welcomes four new teams in January (23:14 GMT+01)

CERT BWI (Germany) sponsored by CERTBw (CERT German Armed Forces) and Siemens CERT; Computer Emergency Response Team of the Swiss Government (GovCERT.ch), Switzerland sponsored by CERT-Bund and IP+ CERT; Research In Motion, Corporate Security - Information Security Operations Centre (RIM CS-ISOC), Canada sponsored by TDBFG CSIRT and Bell IPCR; CERT Societe Generale (CERT SG), France sponsored by CERTA and dbCERT.

FIRST has established relationships with both ISO and ITU-T (13:58 GMT+01)

FIRST has established relationships with both ISO and ITU-T and is active in both organizations. Collective expertise of FIRST members is invaluable contribution to both standardization organizations as it provides an unique practitioners' view to the proposed standards and recommendations. Please view our new pages at http://www.first.org/global/standardisation/ for more information on areas where FIRST contributes to ISO and ITU-T.

Please join us in welcoming new teams and thanking their sponsors (19:16 GMT+01)

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce - Computer Incident Response Team (CIBC CIRT), Canada sponsored by RBC FG CSIRT and BMO ISIRT; Sistema Nacional de Gestión de Incidentes Telemáticos (Computer Incident Management National System - VenCERT), Venezuela sponsored by ArCERT and CCN-CERT ; and Lithuanian National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-LT), Lithuania sponsored by LITNET CERT and CERT-FI.

Please join us in welcoming the new team from Raiffeisen Informatik CERT (R-IT CERT), Austria! (19:17 GMT+01)

Please join us in welcoming the new team from Raiffeisen Informatik CERT (R-IT CERT), Austria! Special thanks to their sponsors SWITCH-CERT and CERT.at. If you’d like to help sponsor a team for membership, please contact the FIRST Secretariat for details at first-sec@first.org!

December TC Program Updated (19:08 GMT+01)

The program for the FIRST TC in Kuala Lumpur on December 1 & 2 has been updated! Please see details at http://www.first.org/events/colloquia/dec2009/program/ Register today!

Call for Speakers Open! (18:41 GMT+01)

Program Chair Andrew Cushman has announced the Call for Speakers for the 2010 FIRST Conference in Miami is now open. For more details and important dates please see http://conference.first.org/

Hitachi Joins 2010 Sponsorship Team! (14:41 GMT+01)

FIRST would like to thank Hitachi for supporting the annual conference. Hitachi has been a sponsor since 2005.

New Member Update! Please join us in welcoming the following new members to FIRST (17:26 GMT+01)

Effective October 1st: · KIT-CERT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Computer Emergency Response Team), Germany · ECS-CSIRT (Electronic Communications Security, National Intelligence Agency, Government of South Africa) . HR-CERT (Croatian National CERT) · IT-ISAC (Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center), USA FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts and look forward to the active participation of the new members!

VeriSign signs on as a Gold sponsor for the 2010 conference! (21:28 GMT+01)

FIRST would like to thank VeriSign for supporting the 2010 Conference! VeriSign joins the sponsorship team at the Gold level. There are still sponsorship opportunities available, please visit the conference website for more information.

21st Annual FIRST Conference: Presentation papers & slides available for FIRST Members' Download (20:27 GMT+01)

FIRST Members might now access what was shown at Kyoto conference, under the theme "Aftermath: Crafts and Lessons of Incident Recovery".

Chinese Security Company Shares Huge Malware Database (20:54 GMT+01)

A Chinese company that has created a massive database of malware found on Chinese Web sites opened up the information to other security organizations on Thursday.

INTERPOL and FIRST join Hands to Fight Cyber Crime (20:19 GMT+01)

A law enforcement loophole through which cyber criminals have been escaping started to close today as international police and the world's leading forum of online security experts forged a new alliance.

2009 Best Practices Contest Winners Announced! (23:56 GMT+01)

Congratulations to Thomas Grenman, CERT-FI and Michael Scheck, Cisco CSIRT. For winning submissions please see http://www.first.org/global/practices/

Episode 6 with Slawomir "Slawek" Ligier of VeriSign! (20:07 GMT+01)

Slawomir "Slawek" Ligier is VP of Identity and Authentication Services Engineering at VeriSign. Slawek oversees an effort to develop multiple layers of internet security, including Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Certificates, Second Factor Authentication, and Fraud Detection Service. Slawek is presenting "On-Line Fraud Prevention and Detection-Multiple Layers of Security" on Monday, June 29th at 16:00.

FIRST Delivers New Stepping Stones for Continuing Professional Education (14:40 GMT+01)

Delegates attending conferences of FIRST, the Forum of Internet Response and Security Teams, will now earn hours to help them qualify for major certificates in their Continuing Professional Education programs.

Hurry and Book Your Hotel Reservations for Kyoto! (11:45 GMT+01)

If you haven't already, please be sure to book your hotel reservations. Discounted rates expire June 1st! Visit: http://conference.first.org/about/hotel.aspx.

Podcast Episode 4 is Now Available for Download! (15:25 GMT+01)

Episode 4 is a short interview with your FIRST conference coordinator Traci Wei. Traci talks briefly about how attendees can earn their CPEs by attending the conference.

Episode 3 is Now Available for Download Now! (12:45 GMT+01)

Featuring Gib Sorebo - Chief Security Engineer and Assistant VP for Technology for SAIC. Gib assists government and private sector organizations in complying with legal and regulatory requirements related to information security and privacy. He will present "The Next Generation of Incident Response" on the program in Kyoto http://conference.first.org/program/program.aspx.

Podcast! Episode 2 now available! (19:09 GMT+01)

Interview with Jeffrey Carpenter of CERT/CC. *Please note that the Best Practices Contest Submission Due Date was extended to May 11th, 2009 after this interview was recorded.

Pre-Conference Podcast Series Launch! (20:44 GMT+01)

Episode 1: Interview with Mick Creane of BT, 2009 Program Chair is now available! A special thanks to our 2009 Podcast Sponsor, Martin McKeay of the Network Security Blog and Podcast (http://netsecpodcast.com). Martin has been busily interviewing contributors to the FIRST 2009 conference, including FIRST Steering Committee and conference presenters (members and non-members).

Please Welcome our New Members in April 2009! (16:37 GMT+01)

Please join us in welcoming the newest FIRST members: mixi Incident Response Team (Japan); CERT NIC.LV (Latvia); Cyber Defense Institute Incident Response Team (CDI-CIRT), Japan and Liaison Member Gary Lawlor (Canada). Congratulations!

2010 Conference Theme Winner (17:33 GMT+01)

Steve Mancini with Intel has won the theme contest for the 2010 conference: Past the Faded Perimeter - Threat and Incident Response. Congratulations to Steve! The prize is a complimentary registration for the 2010 conference.

Follow us! (14:01 GMT+01)

FIRST conference updates on Twitter! (http://www.twitter.com/firstdotorg)

Next World Cyber-security Contest Launched by FIRST, CERT Coordination Center (13:55 GMT+01)

Pittsburgh, PA, February, 25 2009 - The second international competition honoring best practices and advances in safeguarding the security of computer systems and networks was announced today by FIRST (the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams) and the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC).

Please Welcome our New Members for 2009! (22:23 GMT+01)

Please join us in welcoming the newest FIRST members: Effective February 1st is full team member Portcullis Computer Incident Response and Forensics Team (PCIRF), UK and Liaison Members Ken Van Wyk, USA and Bernie Rosen, USA. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts and we look forward to the active participation of Portcullis and continued support from Ken and Bernie!

Best Practices Contest 2009 (21:43 GMT+01)

FIRST and CERT/CC announce the 2009 Security Best Practices Contest. FIRST and the CERT/CC are jointly hosting the contest in conjunction with FIRST's 21st annual conference in Kyoto, Japan. The goal of the contest is to share best practices that have been developed to prevent and mitigate cyber attacks/risk in diverse environments and cultures. This contest is open to public; submitters do not have to be members of FIRST. For more information see the Best Practice Contest page on FIRST website (http://www.first.org/global/practices/) or email first-2009bp@first.org.

New Member Update! Please join us in welcoming the new members of FIRST! (18:46 GMT+01)

New Member Update! Please join us in welcoming the following new members to FIRST: Effective December 1st: UiO-CERT (University of Oslo), Norway and Rakuten-CERT, Japan. New members in January 2009 include: Adam Laurie, UK (liaison and formerly of the Bunker team); INTECO-CERT, Spain; MSIRT (Moneris Solutions), Canada and SecOps (Shell IT Services), Malaysia. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts and look forward to the active participation of the new members!

FIRST gets record sponsor list for Kyoto Conference (18:36 GMT+01)

The world’s economic woes haven’t stopped unprecedented levels of sponsorship being pledged for the 21st Annual Conference of FIRST with six months still to go before proceedings open on June 28, 2009, in Kyoto.

IPA-CERT and ISPIRIT are the newest Full Members in FIRST, Kees Leune the latest Liaison Member (16:02 GMT+01)

Please join us in welcoming the newest FIRST members: Effective September 1st is full team member IPA-CERT, Japan and effective October 1st are full team member Barclays Information Security and Privacy Incident Response and Investigations Team (ISPIRIT), UK and Liaison Member Kees Leune, USA. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts and look forward to the active participation of the new members!

The Cisco CSIRT team provided the network connectivity for the 20th annual FIRST conference in Vancouver, BC Canada in June 2008. (21:49 GMT+01)

The Cisco CSIRT team provided the network connectivity for the 20th annual FIRST conference in Vancouver, BC Canada in June 2008. Through the deployment of their "mobile monitoring rack", the CSIRT built and managed a secure and fast conference network. Many security technologies were put in place to protect the attendees from malicious websites and malware throughout the span of the event resulting in hundreds of blocked connections to "bad" sites and banner ads as well as protection from Internet attacks towards the conference network.

Japan Cert technical director discusses FIRST 2009

In this short podcast, FIRST steering committee member and Director of Technical Operations for Japan Cert, Yurie Ito gives us the inside information on the 2009 FIRST Conference in Kyoto.

FIRST Program Chair: Podcast

Whilst working at the FIRST 2008 Conference, I got to share an office with the 2008 and 2009 program chairs, who would share with me some pretty interesting and useful aspects of how members can influence the FIRST security conference program structure.  So I couldn't resist having a podcast with them. 

In this podcast 2008 and 2009 FIRST Program Chairs, Reneaue Raulton and Mick Creane share their thoughts on the conference programs and how you can incluence the direction of the program as well as win a prize for coming up with a great theme for a conference.

CVSS-SIG successful working meeting during the 20th annual FIRST conference (18:43 GMT+01)

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System Special Interest Group (CVSS- SIG) had a very busy and successful working meeting during the 20th annual FIRST conference in Vancouver. We covered many of the CVSS use cases post v2 deployment - namely PCI and S-CAP - thanks for all the great participation.

Chairing FIRST

What is it like being a Chairman and a Vice Chair.  Long time steering committee member, Kennneth R Van Wyk has given his time to work in several of these positions. In this short podcast he tells us what they do and why they are important to the smooth running of the FIRST organisation.

20th Annual FIRST Conference: Presentation papers & slides available for FIRST Members' Download (22:09 GMT+01)

Well-attended and well-received, FIRST Members might now access what was shown at Vancouver conference, under the theme "Crossing Borders: Towards the Globalization of Security". Our thanks to all presenters and program committee for their amazing job.

CERT.at and SLCERT are the newest members in FIRST (12:00 GMT+01)

Two new national CSIRTs - CERT.at from Austria and SLCERT from Sri Lanka - have joined FIRST as full members. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts and look forward to the active participation of the new members!

Best Practices Contest 2008: Protect (23:11 GMT+01)

CERT/CC and FIRST jointly held the first-ever international competition honoring best practices and advances in safeguarding the security of computer systems and networks. The 2008 contest focused on: prevention and mitigation, under the banner "Protect". The winner best practice papers are available for download.

Kenneth R. van Wyk talk about of FIRST 2008 committee member (22:35 GMT+01)

In this Podcast, veteran first member, previous chair and current vice chair, Kenneth R. van Wyk tells you what it’s like being a FIRST 2008 committee member.

2008 and 2009 Program Chairs (22:26 GMT+01)

2008 Program Chair Reneaue Railton and 2009 Program Chair Mick Creane talk about the position and how you can get the best speakers, the best topics and the best networking events at the FIRST conference and how you can win a special prize for coming up with the theme for the conference.

FIRST to learn know-how from Japan's recoveries (16:33 GMT+01)

The lessons Japan can teach the world about disaster recovery will be a top theme for delegates from FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, when they meet for their 21st annual conference in Kyoto next year.

Where are You in the Security Ecosystems (09:41 GMT+01)

In this podcast, Stephen Adegbite and Zot O’Connor from Microsoft examine the various security eco-systems in companies operate today and how these eco-systems can strengthen their defence systems by better communication and co-operation.

Applied Security Visualisation (09:34 GMT+01)

A picture can save reading a thousand lines of a security log file. Raffael Marty of Splunk discusses his book and talk on Applied Security Visualisation with Peter Wood of First Base. This Podcast was recorded at the First 2008 Vancouver Conference.

Who Control’s Your Control Systems (09:25 GMT+01)

Many countries can be instantly crippled if one of their national infrastructural services is taken down, be it water, electricity, transport or many other different critical services. This podcast gives the key issues from Peter Allor’s talk at the FIRST 2008 conference on who control’s our control systems and the potential security threats that can now affect the various control systems that could impact on our lives.

Moving Beyond Penetration Testing (09:03 GMT+01)

Over the last few years more and more companies have grown used to the concept of penetration testing to help detect security holes in their applications, networks and operating systems. In this podcast, Kenneth Van Wyk of KRvW associates gives an excerpt from his Friday talk on taking the concept of penetration one step further.

FIRST told of Chinese PC hijack explosion (06:23 GMT+01)

The number of innocent individuals in China whose personal computers were hijacked by criminals rose by a staggering 2125 per cent between 2006 and 2007, delegates were told here today at the 20th annual conference of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams.

FIRST moves to bring cyber crime fighters together (21:53 GMT+01)

A new initiative to ease tensions between law enforcers and internet security experts was launched here today at the 20th annual conference of FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams.

New this year, Incoming Thought joins the FIRST sponsorship team as the official Podcast sponsor. (00:42 GMT+01)

FIRST community receives a new Liaison Member (22:53 GMT+01)

Pepijn Vissers (Netherlands) has recently affiliated to FIRST as a liaison member. FIRST thanks the sponsor GOVCERT.NL for its support and looks forward to the active participation of the new member!

BT returns as a member of the FIRST Sponsorship Team this year (16:32 GMT+01)

A sponsor and loyal supporter since 1999, British Telecom returns as a member of the FIRST Sponsorship Team this year. Helping FIRST to celebrate 20 years of conferences, BT is back as the Diamond Sponsor in Vancouver. BT supports Tom Mullen as a member of the FIRST Steering Committee and Mick Creane as the 2009 Conference Program Chair. FIRST gratefully acknowledges BT for its support over the years.

Microsoft has added a new element to the 2008 Conference Sponsorship Team! (15:44 GMT+01)

In addition to signing on at the Platinum level, Microsoft has agreed to sponsor the first ever Geek Lounge at the 20th Annual Conference! Security gurus alike can meet and greet each other while enjoying some friendly competition on the XBOX 360 game console.

EMC and KKCSIRT are the newest members in FIRST (12:00 GMT+01)

EMCs Product Security Response Center (EMC) from USA and Kakaku.com Security Incident Response Team (KKCSIRT) from Japan have joined FIRST as full members. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts and look forward to the active participation of the new members!

FIRST community receives a new Liaison Member (13:00 GMT+01)

Eric Pancer (USA) has recently affiliated to FIRST as a liaison member. FIRST thanks the sponsor NU-CERT for its support and looks forward to the active participation of the new member!

March 2008 Technical Colloquium latest program released (16:00 GMT+01)

Now the latest program agenda of Joint Workshop on Security, and FIRST Technical Colloquium 2008 in Tokyo has been updated and published. We are looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible in one of the best season of the year in Tokyo, Japan!

CERT/CC Joins the FIRST Conference Sponsorship Team as a Platinum Best Practices Sponsor (23:00 GMT+01)

The CERT(R) Coordination Center, the world's first computer security incident response team, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2008. While the CERT/CC continues to respond to major security incidents and analyze software vulnerabilities and malicious code, it has evolved in response to the changing internet environment. The CERT/CC is now part of the larger CERT Program, which takes a comprehensive approach to resisting and limiting the impact of network attacks. FIRST gratefully acknowledges the support of CERT/CC and all of its sponsors.

The 3rd Annual Joint TF-CSIRT and FIRST TC kicked off in Prague (19:04 GMT+01)

A total of 123 registrants from 28 different countries came together for the 23rd TF-CSIRT meeting on today. 66 different FIRST teams and TERENA members were able to participate in this event hosted by Sun Microsystems. The FIRST/TF-CSIRT Seminar will continue on Tuesday.

Google has returned to the sponsorship team! (17:59 GMT+01)

Google, a sponsor since Ottawa 2003 has returned to the sponsorship team! FIRST greatly appreciates Google's continuing support!

Bell IPCR and KFCERT are the newest members in FIRST (12:00 GMT+01)

Bell Canada Information Protection Centre Response (Bell IPCR) and Korea Financial Computer Emergency Response Team (KFCERT) have joined FIRST as full members. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts and look forward to the active participation of the new members!

BIRT and GovCertUK are the newest members in FIRST (12:00 GMT+01)

BrandProtect IRT (BIRT) from Canada and CESG´s Government Computer Emergency Response Team (GovCertUK) from United Kingdom have joined FIRST as full members. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts and look forward to the active participation of the new members!

New additions to the Conference Sponsorship Team (19:33 GMT+01)

FIRST.org is excited to announce that Microsoft has come aboard the 2008 Conference Sponsorship Team at the Platinum level. Q-CERT also returns aboard the Team at Gold level. Our thanks to all of the sponsors for their valuable support!

Call for Participation and instructors at FIRST and TERENA/TF-CSIRT joint event in Prague (13:40 GMT+01)

Instructors are requested for hands-on exercises or demos at January 2008 FIRST Technical Colloquium, together with TF-CSIRT Meeting at Prague, Czech Republic, hosted by Sun Microsystems. Participation is also expected -- FIRST Members can register online to attend to the event.

One more team from Australia within FIRST (09:00 GMT+01)

NAB ITSAR - National Australian Bank IT Security Assessment and Response - has recently affiliated to FIRST as a full member. FIRST thanks the sponsors (AusCERT and VeriSign) for their efforts, and look forward to the active participation of the new member!

4th NM-SIG meeting great success! (16:47 GMT+01)

The very interactive 4th NM-SIG meeting was held on Wednesday 17th October in Noordwijk (NL), before the GOVCERT.NL-symposium. Around 14 people attended the meeting. With hindsight...

20th Annual FIRST Conference Sponsorship Team (21:50 GMT+01)

Sun Microsystems was the first to join the 2008 Sponsorship Team this year. For the 6th year in a row, Cisco Systems is returning as our Network Sponsor. Hitachi, a sponsor since 2005, is also back again. BFK sponsored for the first time in Spain and they are returning again in Vancouver. FIRST gratefully acknowledges the support of all of its sponsors. Help FIRST celebrate its 20th Anniversary in Vancouver this year. Join the Sponsorship Team today.

NCSIRT, FSLab and YIRD are the newest members in FIRST (09:00 GMT+01)

NRI SecureTechnologies Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCSIRT), F-Secure Security Labs (FSLab) and Yahoo! Incident Response Division (YIRD) have joined FIRST as full members. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts, and look forward to the active participation of the new members!

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) and Its Applicability to Federal Agency Systems (16:41 GMT+01)

NIST IR 7435 is published as final. CVSS provides an open framework for communicating the characteristics and impacts of IT vulnerabilities.

August 2007 Technical Colloquium draft program released (00:14 GMT+01)

Details on the Kuala-Lumpur TC program are available now. Preview the schedule on-line and register now for this important event in Malasya! The TC will be held in August 22-24, 2007.

FIRST community has received a new Liaison Member (09:00 GMT+01)

David Mortman has recently affiliated to FIRST as a liaison member. FIRST thanks the sponsor Team Cymru for its support and look forward to the active participation of the new member!

Register now for October TC and Security Workshop in Lima, Peru (02:46 GMT+01)

Hosted by TERIS – Telefonica del Peru CSIRT from 13-18 October 2007 at Lima Swiss Hotel, Peru. More information about the program and location are available at FIRST website. FIRST Members may register online to attend to the event.

Register now for August TC in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (20:00 GMT+01)

Hosted by MyCERT/CyberSecurity from 22-24 August 2007 at Crowne Plaza Mutiara Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. More information about the program and location are available at FIRST website. FIRST Members may register online to attend to the event.

Hot or not: The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) unveils updated common vulnerability scoring system (16:01 GMT+01)

The new scoring system promises to make it easier for security managers and the IT industry to better measure the real-world risks associated with software flaws.

19th Annual FIRST Conference presentations released (23:00 GMT+01)

Presentations and papers of the Seville conference, the most well-attended and well-received, with 467 delegates from 49 countries, are now available for download. Our thanks to all presenters and program committee for their amazing job.

Crossing Borders: Towards the Globalization of Security (18:30 GMT+01)

Debate the challenges of transnational ethics and safety and learn how to transform yourself technically, politically, legally and efficiently into a truly global force for Internet security at the 20th Annual FIRST Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

FIRST Abuse-Handling SIG held its latest workshop in Seville (17:22 GMT+01)

SIG members took forward projects like whitelisting known-good large mailservers, and the concept of feedback-loops. The workshop, well-attended by an enthusiastic number of members, also initiated steps towards a new relationship with the APWG.

Citizens heading "like sheep" (22:04 GMT+01)

UK citizens are “walking like sheep, bleating,” into a total surveillance society, Bob Ayers, of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) warned today at the 19th Annual Conference of FIRST.

CSIRT Metrics Special Interest Group page and news channel released (13:00 GMT+01)

By defining measures for effectiveness, identifying appropriate performance metrics, and determining appropriate approaches for evaluating systems, this metrics SIG aims to improve CSIRT incident management practices within the FIRST community.

CERTs need info clear and fast (22:03 GMT+01)

The need to ensure fast and intelligible information flows between Computer Emergency Response Teams when vendors report vulnerabilities was the lead topic this week when FIRST’s Vendor SIG convened in Seville.

New version of Common Vulnerability Scoring System released (02:00 GMT+01)

Seville Spain – June 20, 2007: Millions of computer users worldwide will enjoy more secure virtual experiences and transactions with the advent today of CVSSv2 – the latest version of the Common Vulnerability Scoring System.

FIRST Steering Committee & Board of Directors News Channel Released (18:00 GMT+01)

Important decisions taken or discussions held on SC/Board meetings regarding membership, policies and operational issues of FIRST will be communicated by this new channel. [FIRST Members Only].

KPN working on a possible threat of significant service disruption from Electro Magnetic Pulse caused by Solar Activity (19:25 GMT+01)

The executives attending the Corporate Executive Programme’s Global Risk Summit at Gleneagles in Scotland in May to debate trends and anticipate the major risks that will impact international business over the next 12 months.

2007 Global Risk Summit at Gleneagles predicts increases in targeted cyber attacks aimed at corporate smart phones and PDAs (21:55 GMT+01)

Senior executives joined the Corporate Executive Programme’s Global Risk Summit at Gleneagles in Scotland in May to debate trends and anticipate the major risks that will impact international business over the next 12 months.

CERT-TCC and CSIRT ANTEL are the newest members in FIRST (06:00 GMT+01)

The Tunisian CERT Coordination Center (CERT-TCC) and Uruguay's Telecommunications Agency CSIRT (CSIRT ANTEL) have joined FIRST as full members. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts, and look forward to active participation of the new members!

A Secure Network for Security Experts (21:00 GMT+01)

Portable Security System from Cisco Will Protect Global Conference Network

Patchlink returns to FIRST as a Bronze sponsor. Welcome back Patchlink (21:49 GMT+01)

We would also like to welcome BorderWare as a new sponsor this year. Our thanks to all of our current sponsors for their valuable support. There are still sponsorship opportunities available, please visit the Conference Sponsorship web page.

ENISA becomes Gold Sponsor (20:25 GMT+01)

The European Network and Information Security Agency has joined the FIRST Sponsorship Team. With this step the Agency wants to affirm its support for the FIRST as a premier organisation and recognised global leader in incident response.

One more team from Canada within FIRST (23:30 GMT+01)

CyberCIRT - Cyberklix Computer Incident Response Team - has recently affiliated to FIRST as a full member. FIRST thanks the sponsors (TDBFG CSIRT and BMO-ISIRT) for their efforts, and look forward to active participation of the new member!

New vendor demonstrations for 2007 FIRST Conference in Seville

Matta, who joins the FIRST Sponsorship Team this year, will participate at the Vendor Booths and Beer 'n Gear, along with other sponsors. There are still sponsorship opportunities available, please visit the Conference Sponsorship web page.

CERT/CC sets the pace for 2007 sponsorship (18:48 GMT+01)

CERT/CC was the first to come in with sponsorship this year and they did so with a splash at the Platinum level. Also joining FIRST and the FIRST Sponsorship Team at the Silver level is Q-CERT from Qatar.

BT takes the Diamond! (19:00 GMT+01)

British Telecom, a member of the Sponsorship Team since 1998, is back as the top sponsor. Joining BT are four NEW additions –Telefónica, INTECO, Endeavor and BFK– and new levels for IBM ISS, Assuria and E-Secure-IT. Our thanks to all of the sponsors.

Spanish companies show support for the 2007 FIRST Conference in Seville (20:00 GMT+01)

RedIris, La Caixa and Panda Software are now sponsoring our conference. Our thanks to all of our current sponsors for their valuable support. There are still sponsorship opportunities available, please visit the Conference Sponsorship web page.

19th FIRST Annual Conference program schedule released (17:00 GMT+01)

Details on the conference program are available now. Preview the schedule on-line or download the printable pdf version, and register now for this unique event in Seville, Spain!

Register now for April TC in Doha, Qatar (21:00 GMT+01)

Hosted by Q-CERT from 12-16 April 2007, this TC marks the inaugural FIRST event in the Middle East region. More information about the program and location are available at FIRST website. FIRST Members may register online to attend to the event

One more team from the Middle East region within FIRST (19:54 GMT+01)

Q-CERT - the national CERT Coordination Center of State of Qatar - has recently affiliated to FIRST as a full member. FIRST thanks the sponsors (GOVCERT.NL and SingCERT) for their efforts, and look forward to active participation of the new member!

New sponsor for the 2007 FIRST Conference in Seville! (01:54 GMT+01)

Juniper Networks joins the FIRST Sponsorship Team this year. Our thanks to all of our current sponsors for their valuable support. There are still sponsorship opportunities available, please visit the Conference Sponsorship web page.

March 2007 FIRST TC final program was released (19:55 GMT+01)

This Colloquium will be a joint event between FIRST and GFIRST during 1-2 March 2007. FIRST Members may register online via the FIRST website to attend to the event. Register now!

Three new sponsors for the 2007 FIRST Conference in Seville! (18:25 GMT+01)

Hitachi, Assuria and Sun Microsystems are now sponsoring our conference. Our thanks to all of our current sponsors for their valuable support. There are still sponsorship opportunities available, please visit the Conference Sponsorship web page.

TERIS is the newest member in FIRST (09:00 GMT+01)

The Telefonica del Peru CSIRT has recently joined FIRST as a full member. This new addition is the seventh Latin American team within FIRST. FIRST thanks the sponsors for their efforts, and look forward to active participation of the new member!

Four new sponsors for the 2007 FIRST Conference in Seville! (19:26 GMT+01)

Google, KrCERT/CC, Cisco and Cymru are now sponsoring our conference. Our thanks to all of our current sponsors for their valuable support. There are still sponsorship opportunities available, please visit the Conference Sponsorship web page.

Register now for January TC in Budapest, Hungary (17:40 GMT+01)

This Colloquium will be a joint event between FIRST and the TF-CSIRT from 29-31 January 2007, in Budapest (HU). FIRST Members may register online via the FIRST website to attend to the event.

CVSS Scores and Calculators (14:25 GMT+01)

Several sites provide easy ways to get CVSS scores. The major ones are listed on the SIG website.

Happy Computer Security Day (21:00 GMT+01)

This week several organizations around the world have celebrated the Computer Security Day (CSD) to raise the awareness of computer security issues. See how you can remind people to protect their computers and information

Best Practices: Acceptable Use Policy Template released (16:00 GMT+01)

The purpose of this policy is to establish acceptable and unacceptable use of electronic devices and network resources in conjunction with its established culture of ethical and lawful behavior, openness, trust, and integrity.

Best Practice on how to set up a CSIRT (16:02 GMT+01)

ENISA CSIRT Setting up Guide describes the process of setting up a Computer Security and Incident Response Team (CSIRT) from all relevant perspectives like business management, process management and technical perspective.

Guidelines for Internet Infrastructure Vendors-Coordination Centers Relationship released (15:00 GMT+01)

The Internet Infrastructure Vendors SIG released this best practice, as the industry sees it, in the area of product vulnerability coordination. More specifically it covers multi-vendor coordination on the world wide scale.

FIRST Special Interest Groups Framework released (20:30 GMT+01)

The four newest SIGs (Abuse Handling, Artifact Analysis, Law Enforcement/CSIRT Cooperation and Network Monitoring) and the FIRST SIG framework establish new channels for discussion on security.

October Technical Colloquium program available (15:40 GMT+01)

Plenary Sessions, Security Workshop and FIRST/TRANSITS Course program are available on FIRST website. The TC will be held in October 7-12th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sponsorship opportunities for the 19th Annual FIRST Conference (15:31 GMT+01)

Sponsorship at FIRST Conferences opens to the doors to gain focused access to a highly influential group of IT Security practitioners and Computer Security Incident Response Experts from around the globe.

Four new Special Interest Groups (SIGs) within FIRST (00:31 GMT+01)

FIRST community has identified 4 new SIGs: Abuse Handling SIG, Artifact Analysis SIG, Law Enforcement/CSIRT Cooperation SIG and Network Monitoring SIG. More information are available in Global Initiatives

Register now for October TC in Rio de janeiro (21:27 GMT+01)

October 2006 Technical Colloquia website is now available. FIRST Members may register online to attend to the event, from 07-12 October, in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Register now for September TC in Seoul (23:15 GMT+01)

September 2006 Technical Colloquia website is now available. FIRST Members may register online to attend to the event, from 25-27 September, in Seoul (KO)

2006 Conference presentations are now available to FIRST Members (12:00 GMT+01)

FIRST Members may access the available presentations slides and papers on the Members-only website

2006 AGM agenda is available to FIRST Members (19:00 GMT+01)

The Annual General Meeting agenda is now available to download [FIRST Members only]

FIRST Conference - We can’t cope without you, Law Enforcers tell FIRST (16:35 GMT+01)

Law enforcement agencies are unable to mount an effective fight against cyber-crime without help from outside emergency response and security teams.

FIRST welcomes new CERTs from Qatar and Gulf States (16:36 GMT+01)

In what was described as "a huge step forward" for the safety of Internet communications in the Middle East, the FIRST welcomed delegates from newly established emergency teams in Qatar and the Gulf Statesto its annual conference in Baltimore, USA.

Make ISP’s Secure Home Computers, FIRST Conference told by Bruce Schneier (22:20 GMT+01)

Internet Service Providers should be required by Governments to protect home users against Trojans and worms, technology guru Bruce Schneier said at the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) annual conference in Baltimore, USA

Law Enforcers and CSIRTs Meet in New Global Cybercrime Counter-Attack (23:28 GMT+01)

In a new global initiative against cybercrime the G8 Lyon High-Tech crime group will this month bring together Law Enforcement (LE) agents and Computer Security Incident Response teams (CSIRTs) at an international conference in Baltimore, USA

CERT - Law Enforcement Joint Workshop program available (23:10 GMT+01)

A great opportunity for your team to hear experiences, war stories, and to identify the gaps and difficulties, and then find ways for effective collaboration.

ASEC has joined FIRST! (23:00 GMT+01)

AhnLab is a prominent developer and provider of integrated security solutions, offering such product as Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Spam, Personal Firewall, Anti-Worm Appliance and other high quality products

CERT-Hungary has joined FIRST! (23:00 GMT+01)

CERT-Hungary's public services are offered to the Hungarian government, municipalities, and businesses. The security of computer systems owned by the government and critical infrastructures receive special attention from our organisation

Corporate Executive Programme Refines Global Risk Index (16:32 GMT+01)

The momentum continues on Day Two of the CEP’s Global Risk Summit Gleneagles as the group refined the Global Risk Index (GRI), which will be published to members shortly.

Corporate Executive Programme's Global Risk Index Takes Center Stage Today at Gleneagles, Scotland (06:32 GMT+01)

Operating under the auspices of FIRST, the CEP takes a cross functional approach to risk management by seeking to bridge the gap between the technical and business areas of global companies.

FIRST successfully reached a new region with TRANSITS (22:52 GMT+01)

During May 5-10, FIRST and TERENA have successfully organized the first TRANSITS security course in the middle-east region, with the support from ETISALAT-CERT, our FIRST member in United Arab Emirates. Additional information will be provided soon.

2006 Conference program schedule updated (23:00 GMT+01)

The full program is up to date, including presentation abstracts, authors and presenters biographies.

Last day for Early Registration to the 18th Annual Conference

This is the last opportunity to have a $300 discount for the Baltimore Conference. Early Registration ends on April 25th 18h00 GMT+1

FIRST Security Library launched (19:03 GMT+01)

Read articles, presentations, guides and papers on network and system security online with this new section of the website

FIRST Global Initiatives now more evident (19:00 GMT+01)

Check on the FIRST regional and global Initiatives worldwide

FIRST IRC Server Project (13:55 GMT+01)

Chat with other FIRST members through this new service provided by Cymru Team (restricted to FIRST Members)

FIRST Urges Wide-Scale Adoption of New Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) (00:53 GMT+01)

The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) a not-for-profit network of computer security incident response teams representing government, law enforcement, ...

FIRST Selected to Lead Scoring Standard for Security Vulnerabilities Scoring System (06:05 GMT+01)

The biggest challenge facing any new standard is the universal adoption of the standard. In order to address the inconsistency of scoring metrics for vulnerabilities...

Call to Arms for Corporate Chiefs to Attend "Critical" Cyber Conference (19:18 GMT+01)

Corporate executives from around the world were today being urged to attend a special conference on risk, to be staged this June in Singapore by FIRST, the world's premier force...