Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams

Type:	International Organization
Industry:	Internet Security
Founded:	1990
Headquarters:	Morrisville, North Carolina
Country:	USA
Website:	www.first.org
Key People
Chris Gibson, President

The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is an international organization of trusted computer response teams dedicated to preventing cyber security attacks. The members of FIRST work together exchanging information regarding new vulnerabilities and handling wide range computer security attacks, particularly on the servers of the Domain Name System (DNS).

History

FIRST was established in 1990 to resolve the underlying problem of difficulty in communications between incident response teams around the world because of the differences in languages, time zones as well as international standards, which became evident during the wank worm attack in 1989. Since the establishment of FIRST, the organization has expanded.

Mission & Vision

The organization aims to respond to security incidents effectively by providing access to best practices, tools, and trusted communication with its member teams. Its members aims to accomplish the following:

• Develop and share technical information, tools, methodologies, processes and best practices
• Encourage and promote the development of quality security products, policies & services
• Develop and implement best computer security practices
• Promote the creation and expansion of Incident Response teams and membership worldwide
• Use and combine the knowledge, skills and experience of its members to promote a more secure global electronic environment

ICANN & FIRST

FIRST and ICANN have worked collaboratively to ensure the operational stability, reliability. security and global interoperability of the Internet and to determine the occurrences of DNS abuses as well as the different Internet security risks. ICANN's Computer Incident Response Team (ICANN CIRT) was created in 2009 and it is a full member of FIRST. On March 5-8, 2010, during the ICANN 37 Meeting in Nairobi Kenya, FIRST and ICANN partnered in conducting a four day workshop on cyber-security for the African Incident Response Teams. The two organizations provided case studies in network security response, hands-on training on DNS security, network protection and handling. According to ICANN's Director for Global Security Programs, Yurie Ito, "We had participation from across Africa, and as a result we now see a number of countries interested in setting up their own national-level cyber security incident response teams. Through our work with FIRST, we hope to set the stage for a better level of Internet security throughout the African continent."