FIRST aims to update the Traffic Light Protocol standard to increase global adoption

Now inviting participants for next review round

May 13th, 2020 – In 2015, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) began an effort to standardize the Traffic Light Protocol (TLP) for the security industry. Targeted at CSIRTs, PSIRTs, operational trust communities, information sharing analysis organizations, government agencies, and private researchers, the original TLP was created to encourage information sharing among public and private sector security professionals in the United Kingdom. TLP became popular in many countries, and FIRST recognized the need to develop it further, in consultation with other security communities, to increase TLP’s adoption, unified understanding and reach on a global scale.

This effort was led by FIRST’s Traffic Light Protocol Special Interest Group (TLP-SIG), who aim to define TLP for the benefit of the worldwide security incident response community and their partners. The TLP-SIG members harmonized TLP using independent, fair and transparent methods. This led to a FIRST endorsed version in 2016, which has been widely adopted since. Now, a new refinement round starts, that should lead to TLP being formally adopted as FIRST Standard. Thomas Millar, TLP-SIG chair said: “These changes will not alter the way in which TLP is currently being used by hundreds of security teams around the world, but it will help teams to interpret TLP more easily. The increased transparency of the FIRST Standards process will also encourage further adoption of TLP as standard worldwide.” Don Stikvoort, fellow SIG chair, adds: “Also, we will continue on the path of making peer-reviewed TLP translations available in as many languages as are offered to us, to further facilitate the take-up of the standard.”

Contact first-sec@first.org to join the TLP-SIG or participate in future consultations. The TLP-SIG intends to complete their review and pass the FIRST Standards Policy process by the time of the Annual General Meeting in 2022.

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About FIRST

Founded in 1990, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) consists of internet emergency response teams from more than 360 corporations, government bodies, universities and other institutions across 78 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania. It promotes cooperation among computer security incident response teams. For more information, visit: www.first.org.

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