Message from the Chair

By Tracy Bills

“What can my team do to become more involved in the FIRST community?” This is one of the most frequently asked questions by new and long-time members alike. While not an all-inclusive list, common answers include – join a special interest group (SIG) that is relevant to you or your organization, attend an event (not just the annual conference), become a FIRST trainer or mentor, and contribute to the FIRST slack discussions. This is great advice for identifying what activities to join, but it is also important to note that how one contributes within those activities is even more important

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The Growing Role of Cyber Diplomacy in Managing Digital Conflicts

By Serge Droz

In recent years, the landscape of offensive cyber operations (OCO) has undergone a significant transformation. While previously these operations primarily focused on espionage, we now witness an alarming trend: increasingly attacks target critical infrastructure or are components of hybrid disinformation campaigns

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APCERT & FIRST Regional Symposium

By Yukako Uchida

On November 7-8, APCERT & FIRST Regional Symposium for Asia Pacific was held in Taipei. This is a joint event with APCERT, hosted by TWCERT/CC. It’s been 6 years since the last Regional Symposium for the Asia-Pacific region in physical space.

The joint plenary session on November 7 attracted about 200 attendees, mainly from APCERT members, FIRST members and local cyber security community in Taiwan. On the next day, we invited trainers from MITRE ATLAS for a one-day session on AI threats. FIRST also organized a Fellowship program (supported by APNIC Foundation) to help promote participation of female community members. We had participants from 7 countries in this region. This event showcases FIRST’s commitment to robust collaboration with the regional stakeholders like APCERT, APNIC Foundation and Taiwanese cyber security community. FIRST looks forward to working closely with these regional partners.

FIRST Membership Committee - Updated Liaison Process

By Nora Duhig & Nadia Yousef

FIRST has recently updated the application process for liaison (individual) members. Applications for liaison membership will now be initiated by the sponsoring team rather than by the applicant.

Sponsoring teams will submit a nomination form along with their letter of support for the liaison candidate as the first step of the process. After the sponsor submission is accepted, the liaison candidate will be notified and sent a link to complete and submit the application for Membership Committee review and Board approval. The complete process and links can be found here.

If you have any questions about the membership process, please contact the FIRST Secretariat at first-sec@first.org.

FIRST Welcomes New Members and Thanks Sponsoring Teams!

By Olivier Caleff & Nora Duhig

FIRST has welcomed 35 new members over the last 3 months of 2024: 15 Liaisons and 20 Teams.

This makes 2024 a record breaking year with 48 new Liaisons and 86 Teams, the best ever since FIRST was launched. For teams, this represents a 12% YoY increase from 2023 (72 Teams). 2024 is also the 3rd in a row that the number of Teams successful applications is at its highest.

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Trainer Recognition

By Yukako Uchida & Klée Aiken

During an incident it is important that people have a common understanding and maturity to react in a fast and efficient manner. FIRST supports teams through training opportunities to grow and mature. But we cannot fulfill this mission without volunteer trainers. We also thank your managers/organizations for supporting your participation in this important initiative.

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Growth Stack Media Q4 PR Highlights: CISA Endorsement & Emerging Industry Leadership

By Jordan Mitchell & Summer Mitchell

FIRST continues to reinforce its position as a cybersecurity leader, highlighted by CISA Director Jen Easterly's strong endorsement of FIRST's Traffic Light Protocol (TLP). This recognition from one of cybersecurity's most influential voices underscores FIRST's critical role in fostering trusted information sharing across the global security community. Strategic coordination with CISA's communications team, including shared graphics and synchronized distribution across our networks, resulted in the highest performing FIRST's highest-performing social media posts of the quarter, amplified further by our members' active engagement.

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Special Interest Group Updates

By Désirée Sacher-Boldewin

The Malware Analysis SIG has released the malware analysis framework V2.0.

The Malware Analysis Special Interest Group (MA-SIG) at FIRST.org is thrilled to announce the release of Malware Analysis Framework v2.0!

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Early Bird Registration for FIRSTCON25 Copenhagen Ends February 10!

June 22-27, 2025 | Copenhagen, Denmark

Consistently ranked as one of the top 20 information security conferences worldwide, the Annual FIRST Conference provides a unique forum for sharing best practices, facilitating and fostering global coordination, and building trusted relationships. Don’t miss your opportunity to register for this year’s conference at the best available discount.

Sponsorship opportunities are available for interested organizations. For more information on the conference and how to register, please visit: first.org/conference/2025

Upcoming Events

By Mona Østvang & Traci Wei

It has been a busy quarter in terms of events. FIRST has organised and partnered in four regional symposia, and our members have organised three TCs. See our web site for more details.

For the first half of 2025, we currently have five events on the agenda.

Make sure to follow our event announcements on social media to stay up to date on call for presentation and registration deadlines.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Balkan Cybersecurity Days 2025

FIRST/DCAF Technical Colloquium
March 18-20, 2025
Podgorica, Montenegro
#BCD2025

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Amsterdam 2025 FIRST Technical Colloquium

March 25-27, 2025
Amsterdam (NL)
#FIRSTAMS2025

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2025 CVE Program & FIRST VulnCon

April 7-10, 2025
Raleigh (NC), US
#vulncon2025

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2025 Cyber Threat Intelligence Conference

April 21-23, 2025
Berlin (DE)
#FIRSTCTI25

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37th Annual FIRST Conference

June 22-27, 2025
Copenhagen (DK)
#FIRSTCON25

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FIRST on Social Media

Are you aware of the social network presence of FIRST? Our handle name is ‘firstdotorg’. Time to start following us if you haven’t done so.