CERT/CC

The CERT/CC was established in November 1988 as the first computer security incident response team. It is one component of the larger CERT program. CERT/CC is a major coordination center in dealing with Internet security problems. CERT/CC studies Internet security vulnerabilities, provides services to Web sites that have been attacked and publishes security alerts. CERT/CC's research activities include the area of WAN computing and developing improved Internet security. It also provides training to incident response professionals. CERT was originally named the Computer Emergency Response Team.

CERT/CC staff members provide technical advice and coordinate responses to security compromises, identify trends in intruder activity, analyze product vulnerabilities, work with other security experts to identify solutions to security problems and ways to prevent the problems in the future, and disseminate information to the broad community.

Specifically, the CERT/CC performs the following activities:

• Provide technical advice
• Coordinate responses to security incidents and major events
• Work with other security experts to identify solutions to security problems
• Identify trends in intruder activity
• Disseminate information to the broad community
• Analyze product vulnerabilities and malicious code
• Publish technical documents
• Present training courses
• Promote leadership in the response team community
• Focus specifically on technical issues relating to Internet security