First
Using unified Forces to combat electronic Threats
Since 1990 the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams,
FIRST for short, has been coordinating the know-how of IT securi-
ty specialists around the globe. Today the organization comprises
150 computer-emergency teams from the areas of public adminis-
tration, business, research and military. The aim of the association
is to promote the cooperation between the various teams in the
prevention of and intervention in to incidents. FIRST members
have access to a common communications system which facili-
tates real-time exchange of information on technical innovation
and impending threats, help in the case of intrusion or support
with research projects. FIRST also organizes an annual conference
as well as a Technical Colloquium twice a year, with the aim of
promoting personal know-how exchange and mutual trust be-
tween members. Open Systems has been a full member of FIRST since 2002.
Coordinated prevention and intervention
In November 1988 a worm known simply as The internet Worm,
paralyzed the IT systems of thousands of businesses and caused
millions of dollars worth of damage. In response the American
Department of Energy was one of the irst to setup a central IT-alert
unit and simultaneously recognize the impending signiicance of
electronic pest control by erecting an early warning system. In the
two years following, a number of different Computer Emergency
Response Teams, CERTS, were founded. These were decentral-
ized organizations that dealt with IT security, distributed security
breach alerts and provided methods of resolution. Through the
establishment of FIRST, the cooperation between members has
been professionalized and improved. Besides Open Systems the
most important universities, research laboratories and military
organizations as well as businesses such as Bank One, Hitachi,
Nokia VeriSign, EDS and Microsoft, McAffee and Symantec are
among the members of FIRST.
Further information can be found at www.first.org
