Incident Response

Appendix A. FIRST

This appendix contains information on the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST). FIRST is a vital all-volunteer community organization comprised of incident response teams from virtually every sector and around the world.

FIRST Statement of Mission and Strategic Goals

Mission Statement

FIRST is an international consortium of computer incident response and security teams who work together to handle computer security incidents and to promote preventive activities.

The mission of FIRST is to:

• Provide members with technical information, tools, methods, assistance, and guidance.

• Coordinate proactive liaison activities and analytical support.

• Encourage the development of quality products and services.

• Improve national and international information security for government, private industry, academia, and the individual.

• Enhance the image and status of the incident response and security teams (IRST) community in the outside world.

Strategic Goals

FIRST will strive for excellence and continual positive improvements to ensure the highest possible levels of integrity, quality, performance, and mutual respect.

To fulfill its mission, FIRST must achieve two overall strategic goals:

• Internal improvement of FIRST operations and organization to meet the needs of the changing environment

• Outreach and growth of the FIRST concept and approach to incident response

These overall goals will be achieved through:

• Trust and cooperation

• Effective communications

• Operational ...