Software Engineering Institute

Media Contacts:
CERT
  Kelly Kimberland
Phone: 412-268-8467
Fax: 412-268-5758
E-mail: public-relations@sei.cmu.edu

Rob McMillan, AusCERT
Phone: +61 (7) 3365-4417
E-mail: auscert@auscert.org.au

PITTSBURGH, PA, August 21, 2001--Two of the world's leading Internet security groups have signed a collaborative agreement to formalize their working partnership. The CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC) in the U.S. and the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) will partner to accelerate the development of methods, tools, and techniques to protect the interconnected networks that comprise the national and global information infrastructures.

This agreement expands a long-standing informal working relationship between the two groups, which have published joint security advisories and cooperated on special projects such as Y2K.

"It is an important step because the Internet does not recognize national borders, and attacks may be directed at groups of countries or directed primarily at one country through others," CERT/CC Manager Jeff Carpenter said. "Approximately 40% of the incidents handled by the CERT/CC each year reach beyond US borders. Formal cooperative agreements such as this one make close liaisons possible with like-minded organizations in other countries for exchanging information on protecting against, detecting, and responding to attacks."

AusCERT General Manager Rob McMillan said the partnership would begin with a two-year pilot to enable each organization to gauge the benefit and feasibility of such a formal information-sharing and collaborative-development arrangement.

The CERT/CC is located at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Established in 1988, the CERT/CC provides technical advice and coordinates responses to security compromises; identifies trends in intruder activity; works with other security experts, including AusCERT, to identify solutions to security problems; and disseminates information to the broad community. The CERT/CC also analyzes product vulnerabilities, publishes technical documents, and presents training courses.

AusCERT is located at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. AusCERT began operations in 1993 and acts as a coordinating center for computer security incidents, a center of expertise for the Asian-Pacific region, and a portal to contacts throughout the world for Australia. AusCERT publishes security information, conducts research, provides training and education, analysis of threats, and information and services to help organizations defend themselves ore effectively. It is unique in Australia, with members and clients in a number of countries, and across a range of industries and government.

Both AusCERT and the CERT/CC are members of the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teas (FIRST).