Breakthrough Vulnerability Projections, Global Conference Series Launch, and CVSS Implementation Leadership

Growth Stack Media secured and tracked 120+ pieces of earned media coverage, generating more than 1M views of content for FIRST in Q1FY26 across notable publications including Fast Company, CSO, SC Media, and Infosecurity Magazine. You can view the full CoverageBook of articles here. This robust coverage reinforced FIRST's position as the authoritative voice in vulnerability management and global cybersecurity coordination.

Two major strategic campaigns drove this quarter's success: the release of the "2026 Vulnerability Forecast," which projected that 2026 would be the first year in history to exceed 50,000 published CVEs with a median forecast of approximately 59,427 vulnerabilities; and the announcement of "FIRST's Three Global Conferences to Strengthen the World's Cyber Defenses in 2026," unveiling VulnCon (Scottsdale, April 13-16), the Cyber Threat Intelligence Conference (Munich, April 21-23), and the 38th Annual Conference (Denver, June 14-19). These coordinated initiatives positioned FIRST as both a data-driven forecasting leader and the premier convener of global security expertise.

Growth Stack Media also commenced pre-production for season 2 of "Improving Security Across Nations with FIRST," which will be filmed at FIRSTCON26, continuing the organization's commitment to showcasing member expertise and global impact.

FIRST's social media presence continued its steady expansion, with LinkedIn growing by 500+ new followers and YouTube adding 100+ new subscribers. The highest-performing post of the quarter featured the CVSS SIG's release of the CVSS v4.0 Consumer Implementation Guide, which provided practical guidance for vulnerability teams to move beyond generalized base scores to deployment-specific risk assessments. This post garnered 150 likes, 33 reposts, 184 total engagements, and 6,134 impressions on LinkedIn, demonstrating strong community interest in actionable vulnerability management frameworks.

Looking ahead, Growth Stack Media will maintain full momentum with strategic press outreach for media to attend VulnCon, CTI, and FIRSTCON, alongside continued thought leadership support to amplify FIRST's expertise and member voices.

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Published on FIRST POST: Jan-Mar 2026