FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams)

FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams)
Name	FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams)
Formation	1990
Type	Professional association
Headquarters	Unknown
Region served	International
Membership	Computer security incident response teams

FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams) is an international consortium of computer security incident response teams and cybersecurity practitioners that promotes cooperation, coordination, and information sharing among incident response organizations. It serves as a focal point connecting practitioners from US-CERT, CERT/CC, Europol, NATO Computer Incident Response Capability, and private-sector teams such as those at Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services to accelerate response to cyber incidents, vulnerabilities, and threats. FIRST operates at the intersection of applied incident response, vulnerability handling, and standards development to align practices used by organizations like FBI, Interpol, and national CERTs across regions including European Union, ASEAN, and African Union members.

History

FIRST emerged in 1990 as a network of incident response practitioners collaborating after high-profile computer security incidents involving organizations such as NASA, National Institutes of Health, and early academic networks tied to ARPANET successors. Through the 1990s and 2000s the forum expanded alongside the rise of coordinated disclosures involving vendors like Cisco Systems, IBM, and Intel Corporation, and intersected with initiatives at IETF, ISO, and ITU to shape cooperative responses. High-impact events—comparable in community effect to the Morris worm incident and the spread of the ILOVEYOU worm—helped catalyze FIRST's growth, leading to formalized membership processes and liaison relationships with entities such as CERT/CC, US-CERT, ENISA, and national ministries in countries like Japan, Germany, and Brazil.

Organization and Membership

FIRST is organized around member teams rather than individual membership; representative teams include governmental teams, academic teams, and corporate teams such as those operated by Ericsson, Siemens, and Facebook. Governance includes an executive board, elected by members, working with technical working groups and special interest groups that mirror structures seen in organizations like IETF and IEEE. Membership categories and accreditation processes reference criteria similar to certification schemes from ISO/IEC standards and engage with legal frameworks shaped by institutions like European Commission and national data protection authorities including ICO and agencies in Australia and Canada. Liaison and observer relationships extend to multilateral organizations like United Nations bodies and regional cybersecurity centers such as CERT-EU and APNIC.

Programs and Services

FIRST provides services including coordinated vulnerability disclosure frameworks used in collaboration with vendors such as Red Hat, Oracle Corporation, and Apple Inc., incident response playbooks referenced by teams at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase, and automated information-exchange formats that interface with standards from MITRE and NIST. The forum operates trust services, incident handling best-practice repositories, and member-only platforms for exchanging indicators related to threats linked to threat actors studied by Mandiant, Kaspersky Lab, and CrowdStrike. FIRST also facilitates CERT-to-CERT communications in crisis scenarios involving supply-chain incidents like those investigated in connection with SolarWinds and NotPetya.

Standards, Best Practices, and Publications

FIRST develops and endorses technical frameworks and guidelines that complement publications from NIST Computer Security Resource Center, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27, and procedural guidance used by Department of Homeland Security components. It publishes incident handling methodology, taxonomy alignment efforts that reference the STIX and TAXII specifications, and collaborative disclosure recommendations akin to processes advocated by MITRE Corporation and the Open Web Application Security Project. FIRST working groups produce white papers and best-practice documents supporting workstreams at ENISA and informing policy discussions at assemblies such as the G20 cybersecurity dialogues.

Events and Training

FIRST organizes global and regional conferences attended by incident responders, vulnerability analysts, and security managers from organizations like Cisco, Juniper Networks, PwC, and Deloitte. These events share the calendar with major conferences including Black Hat, DEF CON, RSA Conference, and regional gatherings like AusCERT. Training programs and certification-aligned courses are delivered in cooperation with academic partners such as Carnegie Mellon University, University of Oxford, and technical training providers associated with SANS Institute and (ISC)², offering hands-on exercises in tabletop simulations, malware analysis, and coordinated vulnerability disclosure.

Collaboration and Global Impact

FIRST has fostered cross-border collaboration that influences incident response capacity-building in regions overseen by institutions such as African Union Commission, Organisation of American States, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Its liaison engagements with Interpol, Europol, and national law enforcement agencies enable coordinated action on transnational cases involving cybercrime networks studied by research groups at Symantec, Trend Micro, and ESET. By promoting interoperability among national CERTs, corporate SOCs, and research centers like SRI International, FIRST contributes to resilience strategies referenced in national cybersecurity strategies of countries including United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore. The forum’s role in standardizing information exchange and response workflows has been cited alongside initiatives led by NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence and multinational industry consortiums responding to supply-chain attacks and advanced persistent threat campaigns.

Category:Computer security organizations Category:Cybersecurity standards organizations