Training, CCB, and CORE

FIRST CORE is excited to welcome the support of the Internet Society and Internet Society Foundation through the newly launched Common Good Cyber Fund (CGCF). As part of the initial pilot phase, the CGCF grant will bolster FIRST’s community and capacity building program to better support and grow our community training efforts.

The Common Good Cyber Fund was launched to address the persistent underfunding of essential cybersecurity capabilities, such as secure DNS and routing, threat intelligence, rapid incident response, and training, by supporting nonprofit organizations that deliver critical services underpinning the Internet’s core infrastructure and protecting civil society.

The Internet Society Foundation’s Vice President of Philanthropy, Christopher Burns emphasises that “digital and cyber threats are rising in frequency and sophistication, with disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities and underserved regions.”

“The Common Good Cyber Fund was created to strengthen the nonprofit organizations working to address these gaps and help build a safer Internet for everyone. FIRST's Community and Capacity Building initiatives directly strengthen global incident response coordination while supporting the development of capabilities and leadership across all regions of the world. This work reflects the collaborative, action-oriented spirit of the Common Good Cyber Fund.”

The CGCF support joins with our launch partner and CORE Supporter, Fortinet, in helping FIRST grow the breadth and depth of our capacity building effort. To learn more about FIRST CORE or join the CORE community, check out https://www.first.org/global/core/.

The CCB Team has also highlighted the work of the Africa Regional Liaison initiative with a blog by Lawrence Mulchiwa. In two years the initiative has worked with 1,210 cybersecurity professionals, delivered more than 50 targeted initiatives across 33 countries. Not an easy task given the size of the continent and the extensive linguistic, cultural, and political variation. You can read more at https://www.first.org/blog/20260311-Trust-Builders.

And keep an eye on that blog because over the next few months the CCB team will be highlighting natCSIRTs from around the world and the innovative work they are doing and the lessons they can pass onto others in similar situations.

Published on FIRST POST: Jan-Mar 2026