Overview

The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST, https://www.first.org/) is a global non-profit organization dedicated to bringing together computer security incident response teams (CSIRT's) and includes response teams from 180 corporations, government bodies, universities and other institutions spread across the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The annual FIRST conference not only provides a setting for participants to attend tutorials and hear presentations by leading experts in the CSIRT community, it also creates opportunities for networking, collaboration, and sharing technical information. Just as importantly, the conference enables attendees to meet their peers and build confidential relationships across corporate disciplines and geographical boundaries

More than 300 delegates from 39 countries – the greatest geographical spread ever – attended FIRST’s 2006 conference, held in June in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

FIRST conference participants include not only CSIRT staff, but also IT managers, network and system administrators, software and hardware vendors, law enforcement representatives, security solutions providers, telecommunications organizations, ISPs, and general computer and network security personnel. FIRST conferences cover a broad range of security related topics such as (but not limited to):

• Advanced techniques in security incident prevention, detection and response.
• Latest advances in computer and network security tools.
• Shared views, experiences, and resolutions in the computer security incident response field.

Call for Papers

The FIRST program committee solicits original contributions for this conference, which are broadly based on the theme of Digital Privacy.

All submissions must reflect original work and must adequately document any overlap with previously published or simultaneously submitted papers from any of the authors. If authors have any doubts regarding whether such overlap exists, they should contact the program chairs prior to submission.

Papers will be scheduled as part of the Main Conference

Timeslots are available in three lengths:

• 50 Minutes, with 10 minutes question time
• 40 minutes, with 10 minutes question time
• 25 Minutes, with 5 minutes question time.

The program committee is also looking for contributions to the ‘Geek Zone’, where presentations last for three hours and which are aimed at a smaller more technical audience of up to 30 people. These presentations are intended to include live demos and involve their audiences in active participation

Topics:

The following broad categories are the focus for the 19th FIRST Conference

• Privacy Risks and Issues
• Privacy Breeches
• Internet based Identity Theft and Fraud
• Corporate Fraud
• Case Studies
• Government and Corporate Responsibilities
• Policies and Prevention
• Legal compliance
• Forensic Tools and Procedures
• Legal Council / Law Enforcement
• How to Respond to and Counter-Act Breeches
• Guidelines for Incident Response Teams
• New Developments in Protection of Privacy
• Communication with stakeholders and Public as to Minimise Damage after Breech
• New Vulnerabilities Impacting Identity Theft
• Vulnerability Research

Papers on other appropriate topics will also be considered.

It is important that your presentation/class is:

• Topical
• Unique

Further it must meet at least 3 out of the following:

• Interesting
• In-depth
• Exciting
• Lively
• Interactive
• Practical
• Entertaining

You should not present with the aim of gaining the audience’s interest in any commercial application or product, in other words: NO MARKETING PAPERS

All submission must be in English in MS Office, OpenOffice or PDF format

Process of Selection

All paper submissions will be handled electronically thru the web Conference Manager at:
https://www.softconf.com/starts/FIRST2007

The program committee will evaluate all submissions based on quality and relevance. All submissions are held in confidence prior to publication in the proceedings.

Submissions received after the deadline (see “Important Dates” below) will not be considered unless the program chair has granted an extension. Where employer, client, or government authorization is needed, it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain such authorization prior to submitting the final materials

Accepted papers will be presented by their author(s) and will be published in the conference proceedings with associated Speaker Biographies and Photographs. The proceedings are provided free of charge to conference attendees. After the conference the papers will be published on the FIRST website.

Copyright

FIRST requires a non-exclusive copyright license for all the papers presented at the conference and for the presentation materials. This includes distribution on the conference CD-ROM and the FIRST website.

Speakers Privileges

A reduction of the conference fee will be offered to one author of each accepted paper or Hands on Class.

FIRST may provide assistance with travel costs if requested.

The Conference

The conference is a five-day event, comprised of two days of Tutorials, three days of Plenary Sessions focused on either Business or Technical issues. These include paper presentations, keynote speeches, Panel discussions and Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions. New features at this year’s conference will include:

• Geek Zone – Presentations with a Hands On Format aimed at smaller, more technical audiences of up to 30 people.
• Lightning Talks - short presentations or speeches by any attendee on any topic, which can be scheduled into conference proceedings with the approval of the organisers.
• Daily Global Security News Podcast - Outlining latest Security News, highlights from the Conference and Interviews with Conference Attendees
• SIG (Special Interest Group) meetings
• Beer 'n Gear where vendors demonstrate their equipment
• Vendor Booths
• Security Challenge
• Entertainment at Conference Dinner

The theme for the 2007 conference is "Private Lives and Corporate Risk: Digital Privacy – Hazards and Responsibilities".

The conference language is English.

Sponsorship Opportunities

To help keep conference registration costs down FIRST.Org, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, solicits conference sponsorships at varying levels. We seek sponsoring organisations that support the mission of FIRST and are committed to improving computer security around the world. Sponsors may receive discount registration fees

Sponsorship at FIRST Conferences opens to the doors to gain focused access to a highly influential group of IT Security practitioners and Computer Security Incident Response Experts from around the globe. When you sponsor the event, you will:

• Reach an expected target audience of 400-500 attendees
• Increase worldwide awareness of your organization’s products and services
• Gain access to computer security decision-makers from governments, corporations and educational institutions
• Be recognized as a key supporter of FIRST’s goals of worldwide coordination and cooperation for the handling of computer security incidents
• Demonstrate your organization’s commitment to best practice security in a fast-growing community of security practitioners

For more information, visit https://www.first.org/conference/2007/sponsors

Important Dates

Final Submission – November 15th, 2006.

Notification of Acceptance – February 15th, 2007.

Final Accepted Presentation Material Submission – April 30th, 2007.

Questions

If you have any questions about the conference, submission process or require more information please send your query to first-2007chair@first.org

Program Committee Chairs

Arjen de Landgraaf (E-Secure-IT)

Ian Cook (Pentest Ltd)

Proposal Submission Form

The form for submissions is available at: