Since the establishment of FIRST, the community has engaged in a wide range of both formal and informal capacity building activities. This has included organized initiatives such as FIRST education and training; the Suguru Yamaguchi Fellowship Program; the sharing and development of standards and good practices; and indirectly through the provision of platforms, forums, networking, and events. FIRST’s Community and Capacity Building Program was launched in 2022 and is designed to help leverage the expertise and value created with and by the global incident response community for more meaningful impact on-the-ground.
The program is led by Klée Aiken.
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Before joining FIRST, Klée worked on Internet and cybersecurity issues in the Asia-Pacific from policy and operational perspectives. First at a think tank; then APNIC; and most recently with CERT NZ, the national incident response team for New Zealand. At CERT NZ he worked to develop the team’s relationships with Pacific partners and build a wide-ranging capacity building program.
Klée also leads the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) Working Group B – Cyber Incident Management and Critical Infrastructure Protection and is a member of the GFCE Research Committee. He is based in Wellington, NZ.
Feel free to reach out to Klée. We look forward to collaborating to improve security, together.
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Eric Akumiah - Africa Regional Liaison
Eric Akumiah is a seasoned cybersecurity trainer with a strong background in community development, cybersecurity policy, and CSIRT management. As the founding manager of CERT-GH, Ghana's national CSIRT, Eric was the Ghana focal person on CSIRT for the United States Government (USG) - Government of Ghana (GoG) Security Governance Initiative (SGI) and worked with the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) team to develop several aspects of the operations framework of CERT-GH. As consultant to World Bank ICT projects in Ghana, Eric contributed to the development of government ICT and cybersecurity infrastructure leading the development of several cybersecurity interventions including developing the national cybersecurity policy and strategy and was instrumental in setting up the government and communications sector CSIRTs in Ghana.
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Lawrence Muchilwa - Africa Regional Liaison
Lawrence Muchilwa is a distinguished cybersecurity leader and executive, boasting nearly a decade of experience in steering organizations through transformative information security programs, compliance enhancements, and risk management initiatives. His extensive expertise spans digital forensics, the establishment of national Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERT), risk and compliance management, Cybersecurity Operations Centers (CSOCs), and incident response, positioning him as a vanguard in the cybersecurity domain.
Lawrence's career is marked by a significant track record in governance, leadership, collaborative efforts, and pioneering product development. His engagement with regional and international entities has facilitated the design and implementation of comprehensive cybersecurity training programs, catering to both the private and public sectors. He currently serves on the management board of the Open University of Kenya, BSides Nairobi, the Kenya Cyber Convention, and the Kenya Cybersecurity and Forensics Association. Beyond his professional endeavors, he is an active contributor to the open-source community, with publications on Docker-based high and low-interactive honeypots to his name.
Dedicated to fostering the next generation of cybersecurity experts, Lawrence dedicates his spare time to mentoring aspiring professionals in the field, and building and scaling cybersecurity communities, underscoring his dedication to the growth and resilience of the cybersecurity landscape.
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Grace Staley - CORE Ambassador
Grace Staley has been a FIRST Events Team member since 2018, Edinburgh was her first FIRST. Grace is the Engagement Coordinator for the Events Team and helps coordinate sponsor opportunities at FIRST’s various events throughout the year, she also functions as Support for FIRST’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Grace lives with her best friend, Iago Linguini, an absurdly fluffy cat, in Chicago. It is known that all the best pets have ridiculous names.
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Hadyn Green - Principal Communications Advisor
Hadyn Green is a former member of CERT NZ and NCSC NZ. He’s worked with various groups and agencies over the years, including work in the Pacific and Australia.
Hadyn worked for 12 years as a technology journalist in New Zealand and used that experience, along with his training in incident response, to create a framework for communications that can be followed during a cyber attack.
This Framework is in use around the world but is also in constant state of improvement to make it relevant to the most number of people.
