FIRST in the News

FIRST Impressions Podcast has been selected as one of the Top 10 Incident Response Podcasts on the web.

The FIRST Impressions podcast brings you regularly scheduled content focused on discussions from across the incident response and security spectrum. Hosted by Chris John Riley and Martin McKeay, new episodes released first Friday of the month!

Organizations looking to minimize exposure to exploitable software should scan Twitter for mentions of security bugs as well as use the Common Vulnerability Scoring System or CVSS, Kenna Security argues.

New ethics guidelines for incident response and security teams have been released by the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) to coincide with Global Ethics Day today. The document offers advice and recommendations for cybersecurity professionals on how they should conduct themselves in a professional and ethical manner when dealing with incidents.

The 12 points seek to provide security professionals with advice on ethical behavior during incident response.

The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) has launched ethics guidelines for incident response and security teams. The group, consisting of Internet emergency response teams from 539 organizations worldwide, seeks to provide cybersecurity professionals with guidance on how to behave ethically during incidents.

Following a global consultation, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is launching new ethics guidelines for incident response and security teams today on Global Ethics Day. ethicsfIRST provides guidance for cybersecurity professionals on how to conduct themselves professionally and ethically during incidents. Inspired by Earth Day, Global Ethics Day provides an opportunity for organizations to explore the meaning of ethics in international affairs

For the first time, and with input from Jisc, a code of ethics has been created for all professionals working in product and computer security incident response teams (PCIRTs and CSIRTs) in all sectors, including education and research. Cyber security and the important work of security incident response teams in keeping the Internet safe has never been more important and, as the security landscape changes, more is expected of experts working in this field.

The ‘FIRST Technical Colloquium 2019’, featuring two days of workshop and training programme began yesterday. It is organised by the Ministry of Transport and Communication (MoTC) in accordance with the National Cyber Drill (STAR-7) hosted by Doha ahead of the National Day celebrations.

Qatar pays special attention to cybersecurity and protection of national vital information infrastructure as reliance on Information and communications technology (ICT) and internet is growing in the country, said Engineer Khalid Sadiq Al Hashimi, Assistant Undersecretary for Cyber Security Department at the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC). He was speaking at the ‘FIRST Technical Colloquium 2019’ workshop which began yesterday. The two-day workshop is being attended by a large number of regional and international cyber security experts. FIRST (the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams), is a premier organisation and recognised global leader in incident response.

Business Insider, July/August 2019

More than 1,100 web security specialists from over 80 countries will gather today for their ‘largest ever’ conference in Edinburgh – reflecting a growing interest in the coordination of responses to global hacking incidents.

A business can make a wide variety of cybersecurity investments, from prevention to incident response. It’s often challenging to determine the appropriate level of investment in each area, as each is important and contributes to an organisation’s resilience against cyber threats. Even when your business is too small to invest in a dedicated capability, there are steps you can take to bolster your organisation against an incident. Published in High Growth Scotland

Digital Guardian, a comprehensive data protection platform with millions of deployments worldwide, securing the sensitive data of the world’s most inventive, influential companies. FIRST was named among “The Top 50 InfoSec Networking Groups to Join."

This five-day annual conference features incident response, management and technical tracks, keynote presentations, lightning talks and plenty of networking opportunities. In addition to learning the latest security strategies in incident management, attendees can earn up to 25 continuing professional education (CPE) credits and gain insight into analyzing network vulnerabilities.

The Star — Malaysian newspaper The Star writes about the FIRST conference, data breach legislation, and quotes Gant Redmon of IBM Resilient and Datuk Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab, CEO of Cybersecurity Malaysia.

Digital News Asia — An article about Martijn van der Heide of ThaiCERT, and his mission to secure a whole country through training, awareness, and developing support for critical infrastructure sectors via sectorial CERT teams. He presented his work at the 30th Annual FIRST Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Telecompaper — Saudi operator STC announced it has been admitted to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST).

Digital News Asia – The article covers Ben Ridgway’s presentation at the 30th Annual FIRST Conference in Kuala Lumpur, discussing the importance of cooperation during a security incidents.

Digital News Asia — The 30th annual conference of The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) began on June 26 in Malaysia, boasting a record-breaking 829 attendees from 79 countries, including 55 from Malaysia from both the private and public sector. The articles quotes our Chair, Thomas Schreck, Christopher Painter, keynote speaker and Commissioner, Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace and Datuk Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab, CEO of Cybersecurity Malaysia.

Cybersecurity ASEAN – Cybersecurity ASEAN covered the 30th edition of our Annual Conference, quoting Chris Painter’s keynote on the importance of helping policymakers understand the work incident responders do.

ASEAN Tech & Sec – ASEAN Tech & Sec covers the release of FIRST’s training for Product Security Incident Response Teams (PSIRT).

TradeArabia – CTM360 from Bahrain, announced being accepted into the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST).

Internet Health Report 2018 – As a computer systems expert, Margrete Raaum in Norway has seen her fair share of cybersecurity incidents. When asked to recall a memorable one, the Oslo-based Raaum remembers an attack about four years ago on a high-performance computer facility serving several European universities.

As a computer systems expert, Margrete Raaum in Norway has seen her fair share of cybersecurity incidents. When asked to recall a memorable one, the Oslo-based Raaum remembers an attack about four years ago on a high-performance computer facility serving several European universities.

The ever-accelerating flood of software vulnerabilities and innovative attack techniques leaves increasingly few organizations capable of defending themselves and safeguarding sensitive data in their care.

Information-sharing is a critical tool for network defenders because it allows them to avoid the missteps of their peers within the infosecurity community and to deploy proven defensive measures. Proactive information-sharing about attacks and defensive mitigations builds resilience across organizations participating within a given trust community, evolving herd immunity against attacks that others have seen within their own networks.

Eurasia Daily Monitor – A priority of the Kazakhstan government’s “Cyber Shield” Project is to participate in the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST).

GPD’s executive director Charles Bradley talks to Gaus Rajnovic, chief financial officer and board member at the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), and GPD’s Lead Strategist Matthew Shears, about multistakeholder approaches to cybersecurity.

More data records have been breached in the first six months of 2017 than the whole of 2016. The Gemalto Breach Level Index reports that this amounts to an astonishing 121 records lost or stolen every second of every day.

Investment & Pensions Europe — Daniel Ben-Ami writes for IPE about how financial institutions are involved in a cyber arms race against criminals. He notes how many of these companies are members of the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung (German) — An article about our member Kudelski Security covers how FIRST helps assist individual security teams during major cyber attacks, such as an internet worm.

HostingAdvice — Laura Stamey of HostingAdvice published an article interviewing Board Members Serge Droz and Maarten Van Horenbeeck on their involvement in FIRST. It covers important initiatives, special interest groups, the Suguru Yamaguchi Fellowship Program, and how FIRST helps support a safer internet.

CaribbeanBusiness (Spanish) — Augustin Criollo Oquero of CaribbeanBusiness interviews Héctor Martínez of local host GM Security Technologies about the FIRST conference in Puerto Rico, and how security is a global problem with a local context.

El Vocero (Spanish) — José Carmona of El Vocero speaks with Derek Manky of Fortinet, a long standing FIRST member, and Margrete Raaum, Chair, about the FIRST conference and its visit to Puerto Rico.

CNN — Barak Seener writes about a NATO-style Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition of 41 Sunni states, and how it plans to reach out to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams to cooperate on its response to cyber-attacks.

El Nuevo Dia (Spanish) — El Nuevo Día writes about our announcement of holding the FIRST conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Over 700 security experts from 68 countries are expected to participate.

News is my Business — A local Puerto Rican business outlet writes about the FIRST conference, quoting Margrete Raaum and Maarten Van Horenbeeck of FIRST, and our local host, Héctor G. Martínez of GM Security Technologies.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Arab Republic of Egypt announces they are visiting UG-CERT headquarters in Kampala on March 20th-22nd to conduct a FIRST site visit

European CIIP Newsletter – FIRST Chair Margrete Raaum describes how FIRST as an international umbrella organization connects incident responders worldwide, and how it can benefit the European energy sector.

Forbes - "FIRST.org is one example among many other professional associations of cyber defenders that now struggle with holding technical conferences in the wake of the immigration ban uncertainty," said Katie Moussouris, founder and CEO of Luta Security in an interview with Forbes.

One Magazine (Spanish) – Valencia hosts the TF-CSIRT and FIRST conference, bringing together representatives of the most important centers for the protection of international cybersecurity.

Cisco Blogs – Omar Santos of Cisco describes the release of the Guidelines and Practices for Multi-Party Vulnerability Coordination, released by the FIRST Vulnerability Coordination SIG.

Cisco Blogs – Omar Santos of Cisco describes the value of using CVSSv3 to score security advisories that address security vulnerabilities in Cisco software

ITProPortal — Without a doubt, 2016 was the year of the DDoS. The year came to a close with a major DDoS attack on DNS provider Dyn, which took down several major internet sites on the Eastern US seaboard. This attack was different - not so much in terms of its volume or its technique, but in the fact that instead of being directed at its intended target, it was targeted at network infrastructure used by the target.

Fedscoop – Shaun Waterman of Fedscoop covers a project of FIRST members and the NTIA to describe vulnerability coordination scenarios and corresponding patterns of communication.

Levante El Mercantil Valenciano (Spanish) – Article describes how Valencia will become the world capital of cybersecurity in 2017, as TF-CSIRT and FIRST converge on the city to organize a symposium from January 23rd through 25th.

ITWeb Africa – Article describes the 5th Regional Cybersecurity Summit in Egypt, and mentions training FIRST has organized together with the government of Egypt.

SC Magazine UK – Thomas Schreck and Margrete Raaum of the FIRST boardy told an audience at 4SICS 2016, co-organized by FIRST, on why cyber-threat intelligence plays an important part in information sharing in the energy industry.

Yomiuri (Japanese) – The Yomiuri Shimbun explores computer security incident response teams in private business, and puts a spot light on human resource development in this particular field in an interview with board members Pete Allor, Damir Rajnovic and Thomas Schreck.

Iranian Students News Agency (Farsi) – Thirteenth International Conference on Information Security and Cryptography (ISCISC2016) to take place at Shahidh Beheshti University in Tehran features a keynote and Incident Response workshop by FIRST Board member Maarten Van Horenbeeck.

SecurityIntelligence.com – FIRST conference one of nine “conferences worthy of consideration for the security leader or CISO, security professional and operational business leader.”

Network Security Journal – FIRST Board member Serge Droz comments on why encryption technology often gets a strong response from governments.

NCCIC Monitor Newsletter – The newsletter of the US Industrial Control Systems CERT describes how their team won first place in the annual Dragon Research Group FIRST Challenge at the 28th Annual FIRST Conference in Seoul.

SCMagazine.co.uk – Kate O’Flaherty asks what the information security industry can do to encourage more women to join the sector. FIRST Chair, Margrete Raaum, responds.

BoanNews (Korean) – FIRST Board members Damir Rajnovic and Maarten Van Horenbeeck are interviewed on how FIRST builds a global information security community, and how Korea contributes.

DigitalDaily (Korean) - FIRST Chair Margrete Raaum and Maarten Van Horenbeeck discuss the incentives that help industry innovative while still designing security controls, and how FIRST contributes.

Yonhap News (Korean) – FIRST Board member Katherine Gagnon is interviewed about her experience working in security, and on the risk of smart home and smart car threats.

Digital Times (Korean) – Margrete Raaum, Chair of FIRST, and Kee-Seung Baik, President and CEO of the Korea Internet & Security Agency, discuss the forthcoming FIRST conference in Seoul, Korea from June 12th – 18th.

The Diplomat – Bruce McConnel describes FIRST as a potential model for the intermediating role of institutions and organizations of addressing emerging risk.

DigitalNewsAsia – Fortinet security expert Derek Manky discusses working with FIRST for about four years, setting up non-commercial intelligence exchange with appropriate stakeholders.

BlueKaizen – an interview with Maarten Van Horenbeeck, former chair and Board member of FIRST, discussing the benefits for an organization to join, and how the organization contributes to dealing with complex security incidents.

Ghana News Agency – FIRST and AfricaCERT organize a two-day training workshop and regional symposium on cyber security on the team, “Joining Forces to Promote Cyber Security in Africa”.

CGI.br – A video of former Board member Yurie Ito and Board member Maarten Van Horenbeeck discussing functionality, security and stability of the internet.

Estadão (Portuguese) – FIRST Board member Maarten Van Horenbeeck is interviewed on the impact of security vulnerabilities on an ever growing and more interconnected internet.

Heise (German) – 27th annual FIRST conference, keynoted by German Federal CIO Cornelia Rogall-Grothe takes place in Berlin, discusses how to improve security of computer networks.

CircleID — This article in CircleID covered how the Internet Society and the Internet Architecture Board developed and hosted a one-day “Coordinating Attack Response at Internet Scale (CARIS) Workshop” at the FIRST Conference in Berlin, June 19th of 2015.

TheBahamasWeekly – The Organization of American States, FIRST and GEANT Association organize a training course on Computer Security Incident Response Teams focused on technical CSIRT staff of Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago

The Register – An interview with FIRST board member Pete Allor describing how FIRST is spearheading a global standards effort to unify the operations of security incident response teams.

NetworkWorld — Article by Networkworld about Microsoft launching Interflow, a new platform for sharing cybersecurity threats in near real-time, at the 2014 FIRST Conference in Boston.

SC Magazine UK – Opinion piece by FIRST Chair, Maarten Van Horenbeeck, discussing the need for the wider community to help Africa build information security and incident response capability.

The Register – An article by John Leyden about former FIRST Chair Chris Gibson, and his new role in the United Kingdom’s government.

The Guardian – FIRST Chair, Chris Gibson, discusses the need for the information security community to help support incident response capacity building in the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

CIO Asia — Derek Manky, in a guest post on CIO Asia, describes how FIRST is one of the best examples of an international body that encourages information sharing between public and private sector.

Forbes – Derek Manky of Fortinet describes FIRST as one of the best examples of information sharing, and how it helps address cyber security problems through collaboration.

In an interview with George V. Hulme, David Mortman of Securosis recommends joining FIRST, flagging the immediate benefit of the connections a new member makes. “Should something happen, you know who to call”, he says.

IT Media (Japanese) — Article in Japanese discussing the development of incident response teams and the value of participating in the cyber security community.

Networkworld – Ellen Messmer of Networkworld writes about how Qualys services will now start supporting the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), stewarded by FIRST.

ZDNet — Dawn Kawamoto quotes Gavin Reid of FIRST, who discusses what companies should do to build better industry relationships, and how they can better protect themselves from internet threats. He notes how trade and international groups are working to bridge the gap in fighting cybersecurity threats on a worldwide basis.

Networks Asia — Al Berg describes five leading information security associations, a list which includes FIRST. He notes how FIRST focuses on bringing together information security incident response teams to share best practices, experiences and information.

SC Magazine — Joseph Vaughn-Perling writes about network security, and in particular how FIRST is a valuable organization to join for strong internal security groups.