United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team
Encyclopedia
The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is part of the National Cyber Security Division
National Cyber Security Division
The National Cyber Security Division is a division of the Office of Cyber Security & Communications, within the United States Department of Homeland Security's Directorate for National Protection and Programs...

 of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

' Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...

.

Formed in September 2003, US-CERT is a partnership between the Department of Homeland Security and the public and private sectors, intended to coordinate the response to security threats from the Internet. As such, it releases information about current security issues, vulnerabilities
Vulnerability (computing)
In computer security, a vulnerability is a weakness which allows an attacker to reduce a system's information assurance.Vulnerability is the intersection of three elements: a system susceptibility or flaw, attacker access to the flaw, and attacker capability to exploit the flaw...

 and exploits
Exploit (computer security)
An exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug, glitch or vulnerability in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on computer software, hardware, or something electronic...

 via the National Cyber Alert System
National Cyber Alert System
The National Cyber Alert System is an email and RSS notification service for the United States sent by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team , which is part of the National Cyber Security Division of the United States Department of Homeland Security...

, and works with software vendors to create patches for security vulnerabilities.

US-CERT has responsibilities as the Federal Incident Management Center for the Federal Government and serves as the focal point for cybersecurity issues in the United States.

National Cyber Alert System

The National Cyber Alert System is an email and RSS notification service for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sent by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT). The service was launched in 2004 to provide "computer security vulnerabilities, the potential impact of those vulnerabilities, and the action required to mitigate threats". US-CERT and its partners also write security tips and best practices for personal computer users.

Subscribers may choose some or all of the service's five types of alerts. Technical Cyber Security Alerts are written for system administrators and experienced users, as are the weekly summaries called Cyber Security Bulletins. Cyber Security Alerts and the biweekly Cyber Security Tips are written for nontechnical, home, corporate and new users. Current Activity Updates are sent as they are added to the US-CERT website.

See also

  • National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre
    National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre
    The National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre was an inter-departmental centre of the UK government.Set up in 1999. The role of NISCC was to minimise the risk to the Critical National Infrastructure from electronic attack....

  • CERT Coordination Center
    CERT Coordination Center
    The CERT Coordination Center was created by DARPA in November 1988 after the Morris worm struck. It is a major coordination center in dealing with Internet security problems....

  • Einstein (US-CERT program)
    Einstein (US-CERT program)
    Einstein is an intrusion detection system that monitors the network gateways of government departments and agencies in the United States for unauthorized traffic...

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