If you are like me, the annual conference is the professional highlight of the year with its many great sessions and networking opportunities. This year’s event was no exception. If you were not able to attend or want to revisit some of the presentations, please check them out. I would like to extend a special thanks to the outstanding number of attendees and support from sponsors this year for making the conference a huge success!
As mentioned, in the article from Tracy Bills, at the board meeting in Madrid the board reviewed the various responsibilities each board member is focused on for the next year. This role includes reviewing present status, working to add detail on their areas to the strategic plan as well as 2025 goals and budget.
As FIRST has now taken on full time staff, board roles are changing from the more “hands on” roles to a more” strategic and oversight”. This allows the board to focus on long term planning and goals, greatly enhancing the decision making process.
FIRST delivered four remote workshop sessions from June to July 2024. The training collaboration was made possible with the generous support of Swiss international cooperation and humanitarian aid and a partnership between the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), AJCCBC, and FIRST
The FIRST NETSEC SIG successfully launched its first Network Security Fundamental Training for the FIRST community and attendees of the 2024 FIRST Annual Conference in Fukuoka. The training took place on June 15, 2024, the day following the conference, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Seahawk Hilton Fukuoka. It was attended by key figures in network security in Japan and members from NETSEC SIG who are involved in network coordination (e.g., APNIC, JANOG). The training was planned by all NETSEC SIG co-chairs, its execution led by FIRST NETSEC SIG co-chairs John Kristoff, Merike Kaeo, Aaron Kaplan and organized by Hendrik Adrian. The event facility was generously sponsored by Cyber Emergency Center of LAC.
FIRSTCON24 in Fukuoka, Japan was another successful conference for the FIRST community. The event attracted more than 1,000 participants both including in-person and virtual attendees around the world, which marked a new record. The conference feedback survey also showed that the event mostly met the expectation of the participants. Once again, on behalf of the FIRST Board of Directors, we would like to thank everyone who was involved in the conference; sponsors, speakers, trainers, program committee (especially to Taki Uchiyama, the PC Chair), all the participants and staff.
A brief summary of FIRSTCON24 is available on the FIRST website. Also, the record of TLP:CLEAR sessions from the conference have been uploaded on FIRST’s YouTube channel. The playlist is available here.
We look forward to seeing you again at FIRSTCON25, scheduled for June 22-25, 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Capacity building is a crucial area of focus at FIRST. In addition to various workshops scheduled pre-conference, FIRST also engages with multiple stakeholders to organize on-site training.
The European Summer School in Information Geometry (EuroSSIG), held in Meissen, Germany, is an educational event that brings together experts, researchers, students and academics as well as individuals working in the private sector or in government, to understand better the global Internet Governance controversy and to get a comprehensive and structured knowledge on the various aspects of Internet Governance.
For the EuroSSIG 2024 Michael Hausding from FIRST supported teaching two topics: “Incident Response” and “DNS Abuse”. Both topics are of great interest for policy makers and it was an excellent opportunity to engage with the policy makers from around the world.
The Special Interest Groups have been very active again in the past few months since the annual conference, here you can find the newest updates.
FIRST welcomed 51 newcomers between May and September 2024: 36 teams, and 15 liaisons. They are based in Europe (21), South America (11), Asia (10), North America (8), Africa (1),
Congratulations to all of them, and thank you for all the primary and secondary sponsors who accompanied them. It is a real effort that is to be recognized. Stay tuned!
As we are in times of social engineering, spoofing, and fake invoices, the FIRST organization is announcing a change that may be seen as a scam, but it is NOT!
In order to follow European Union regulations FIRST is required to collect VAT on registration fees and sponsorship for all events in Europe. In order to do so, FIRST sealed a contract with VMC, a company based in France who specializes in VAT management.
FIRST continues to make waves in the cybersecurity sphere and was recently highlighted in globally-respected CIO as a premier IT leadership organization. Q3 continued our strong Q2 performance, which saw exceptional media traction with 36 earned coverage pieces—a stunning 514% achievement against our target.
October 7-8, 2024
Valencia (ES)
October 9-10
Asunción (PY)
October 15-17
Oslo (NO)
November 7-8, 2024
Taipei (TW)
November 26-28, 2024
Livingstone (ZM)
January 14–16, 2025
Monte Carlo (MC)
March 25-27, 2025
Amsterdam (NL)
April 7-10, 2025
Raleigh (NC), US
#vulncon2025
April 21-23, 2025
Berlin (DE)
#FIRSTCTI25
Are you aware of the social network presence of FIRST? Our handle name is ‘firstdotorg’. Time to start following us if you haven’t done so.