Computer emergency response teams (CERT) are expert groups that handle computer security incidents. Alternative names for such groups include computer emergency readiness team and computer security incident response team (CSIRT).
The name "Computer Emergency Response Team" was first used by the CERT Coordination Center (CERT-CC) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The abbreviation CERT of the historic name was picked up by other teams around the world. Some teams took on the more specific name of CSIRT to point out the task of handling computer security incidents instead of other tech support work, and because CMU was threatening to take legal action against individuals or organisations who referred to any other team than CERT-CC as a CERT. After the turn of the century, CMU relaxed its position, and the terms CERT and CSIRT are now used interchangeably.
The history of CERTs is linked to the existence of malware, especially computer worms and viruses. Whenever a new technology arrives, its misuse is not long in following. The first worm in the IBM VNET was covered up. Shortly after, a worm hit the Internet on 3 November 1988, when the so-called Morris Worm paralysed a good percentage of it. This led to the formation of the first computer emergency response team at Carnegie Mellon University under U.S. Government contract. With the massive growth in the use of information and communications technologies over the subsequent years, the now-generic term 'CERT'/'CSIRT' refers to an essential part of most large organisations' structures. In many organisations the CERT evolves into a information security operations center.
Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is the global association of CSIRTs.
aeCERT is the Computer Emergency Response Team for the United Arab Emirates.
AusCERT and CERT Australia are two Computer Emergency Response Team for Australia. AusCERT was started in 1993 and in 2010 the Australian Federal Government started CERT Australia.
CanCERT is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Canada.
CERT.be is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Belgium.
CERT-BUND is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Germany.
CERT-CC is the Computer Emergency Response Team for the Carnegie Mellon University and the Software Engineering Institute.
CERT-EE is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Estonia.
CERT-FI is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Finland. It has been integrated into National Cyber Security Centre Finland (NCSC-FI).
CERT-GH is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Ghana.
CSIRT-IE is the Computer Emergency Response Team for the Republic of Ireland.
CERT-In is the Computer Emergency Response Team for India.
CERT-IS is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Iceland.
CERT-MX is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Mexico.
CERT Polska is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Republic of Poland.
Centro Nacional de Cibersegurança (CNCS) is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Portugal.
CSIRT.CZ is the Computer Security Incident Response Team for Czech Republic.
DKCERT, Denmark
SI-CERT is the Slovenian Computer Emergency Response Team.
MOCERT is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Macau, China.
National Cyber Security Centre (formerly CERT-UK) is the Computer Emergency Response Team for the United Kingdom.
ngCERT is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Nigeria.
NorCERT is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Norway.
Q-CERT is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Qatar.
CERT-SE is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Sweden.
TR-CERT (USOM) is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Turkey.
TW-CERT/CC is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Taiwan.
US-CERT is the Computer Emergency Response Team for the United States.
VNCERT is the Computer Emergency Response Team for Vietnam.
