FIRSTCON25 Delivers Global Collaboration and Groundbreaking Cybersecurity Initiatives

COPENHAGEN, JUNE 27, 2025 - The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) has successfully concluded FIRSTCON25, its 37th Annual Conference. The five-day event brought together more than 1,000 registered attendees from 100+ countries, establishing new benchmarks for international cooperation in cybersecurity and incident response.

"The record-breaking attendance and depth of collaboration at FIRSTCON25 demonstrates the critical importance of international partnership in addressing today's complex threat landscape," said Chris Gibson, CEO of FIRST. "The initiatives launched this week will have a lasting impact on global cybersecurity resilience, particularly for underrepresented regions where capacity building is most needed."

Major Initiatives Launched to Strengthen Global Cybersecurity

FIRSTCON25 witnessed the introduction of several new programs designed to strengthen cybersecurity capabilities worldwide:

FIRST CORE with Fortinet: FIRST announced its CORE (Community, Operational capacity, Resilience, and Empowerment) initiative with Fortinet as its founding partner. This strategic program provides critical funding and support to expand capacity building priorities including developing new incident response training content, subsidizing local training costs for lower-income partners, and enhancing the Suguru Yamaguchi Fellowship Program.

Draugnet Anonymous Threat Reporting Platform: Trey Darley, a Belgian security researcher, and Alexandre Dulaunoy, the head of the Computer Incident Response Center Luxembourg (CIRCL), launched Draugnet during FIRSTCON. Built on the Malware Information Sharing Platform (MISP), this innovative platform allows anyone to report threat intelligence—from indicators of compromise to comprehensive threat reports—without registration or login requirements.

Common Good Cyber Fund: The UK and Canadian governments announced joint investment in the Canada-UK Common Good Cyber Fund, designed to support non-profit organizations that maintain core digital infrastructure and deliver cybersecurity assistance to high-risk actors.

Expanding Global Reach Through Capacity Building

FIRST's Community and Capacity Building (CCB) program demonstrated significant momentum throughout 2025, with key highlights showcased during the conference.

Notable initiatives included the Africa Regional Liaison Initiative supported by UK International Development and the Actioning Alerts & Advisories (A4) Initiative spanning Cameroon, Malawi, Trinidad & Tobago, and The Bahamas. The program also expanded fellowship opportunities across regional symposiums and delivered TableTop Exercise (TTX) training to UN policy makers and diplomats through partnerships with the Women of FIRST Special Interest Group.

Special Interest Groups Address Emerging Challenges

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) exist to provide forums where FIRST members discuss topics of common interest to the incident response community. At FIRSTCON25 new SIGs were announced to address emerging challenges, including new Incident Reporting and Time Security groups. Established groups such as the AI Security, Malware Analysis, Cyber Threat Intelligence, Human Factor, and Ransomware SIGs showcased continued innovation and demonstrated their ongoing contributions to advancing cybersecurity practices across the global community.

Organizational Leadership and Strategic Updates

Hall of Fame Induction: Richard (Rich) D. Pethia was inducted into FIRST's prestigious Incident Response Hall of Fame, recognized for his foundational contributions to cyber incident response, including creating the world's first Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT/CC).

New Board Leadership: FIRSTCON25 also marked the election of Oliver Caleff as the new Chair of FIRST for a one-year term, representing continued leadership evolution within the FIRST community as the organization expands its global reach and impact. “I am extremely honored to have been elected to serve the community alongside my peers on the Board of Directors, and am committed to deliver on plans and progress aligned to FIRST's Strategic Framework,” said Olivier Caleff. Additional Board positions were also filled during the conference elections.

Annual Progress Review: The 2024 Annual Report was presented, providing a comprehensive overview of FIRST's work in strategy, institutional policies, capacity building, finance, and the strengthening of Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Highlighted milestones include increased membership across regions, expanded technical training programs, and the impact of cyber diplomacy initiatives aimed at strengthening capabilities in environments facing emerging challenges.

Distinguished Speakers Explore Cybersecurity Frontiers

FIRSTCON25 featured an exceptional lineup of global cybersecurity leaders, including keynote presentations from Nina Sunde of the Norwegian Police University College on "Unpacking the Human Factor: Navigating Individual, Socio-Technical, and Systemic Challenges in Incident Investigations," and Søren Maigaard of SektorCERT, Denmark, delivering insights on "Threat Intel Informed Infrastructure Protection."

Additional highlights included presentations from leading experts across government, academia, and industry, covering topics ranging from data breach response best practices to ransomware economic models and the development of sectoral CERT ecosystems.

The conference reinforced FIRST's role as the premier platform for fostering trust, sharing expertise, and developing coordinated defense strategies against evolving cyber threats.

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About FIRST

FIRST aspires to bring together incident response and security teams from every country across the world to ensure a safe internet for all. Founded in 1990, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) consists of internet emergency response teams from more than 800 corporations, government bodies, universities and other institutions across 110 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania. For more information and to see the full calendar of events, visit: FIRST.Org.

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