CERT Coordination Center

CERT Coordination Center
FFRDC (part of Software Engineering Institute)
Industry Software and Network Security
Founded 1988
Headquarters Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Key people
 Richard Pethia
Director
Website www.cert.org

The CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC) is the coordination center of the computer emergency response team (CERT) for the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), a non-profit United States federally funded research and development center. The CERT/CC researches software bugs that impact software and internet security, publishes research and information on its findings, and works with business and government to improve security of software and the internet as a whole.

History

The first organization of its kind, the CERT/CC was created in Pittsburgh in November 1988 at DARPA's direction in response to the Morris worm incident.[1] The CERT/CC is now part of the CERT Division of the Software Engineering Institute, which has more than 150 cybersecurity professionals working on projects that take a proactive approach to securing systems. The CERT Program partners with government, industry, law enforcement, and academia to develop advanced methods and technologies to counter large-scale, sophisticated cyber threats.

The CERT Program is part of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) at Carnegie Mellon University's main campus in Pittsburgh. CERT is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University.[2]

Confusion with US-CERT and other CERTs

In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security entered into an agreement with Carnegie Mellon University to create US-CERT.[3] US-CERT is the national computer security incident response team (CSIRT) for the United States of America. This cooperation often causes confusion between the CERT/CC and US-CERT. While related, the two organizations are distinct entities. In general, US-CERT handles cases that concern US national security, whereas CERT/CC handles more general cases, often internationally.

The CERT/CC coordinates information with US-CERT and other computer security incident response teams, some of which are licensed to use the name “CERT.” [4] While these organizations license the "CERT" name from Carnegie Mellon University, these organizations are independent entities established in their own countries and are not operated by the CERT/CC.

The CERT/CC established FIRST, an organization promoting cooperating and information exchange between the various National CERTs and private Product Security PSIRTs.

Capabilities

The research work of the CERT/CC is split up into several different Work Areas.[5] Some key capabilities and products are listed below.

Coordination

The CERT/CC works directly with software vendors in the private sector as well as government agencies to address software vulnerabilities and provide fixes to the public. This process is known as coordination.

The CERT/CC promotes a particular process of coordination known as Responsible Coordinated Disclosure. In this case, the CERT/CC works privately with the vendor to address the vulnerability before a public report is published, usually jointly with the vendor's own security advisory. In extreme cases when the vendor is unwilling to resolve the issue or cannot be contacted, the CERT/CC typically discloses information publicly after 45 days since first contact attempt.[6]

Software vulnerabilities coordinated by the CERT/CC may come from internal research or from outside reporting. Vulnerabilities discovered by outside individuals or organizations may be reported to the CERT/CC using the CERT/CC's Vulnerability Reporting Form. Depending on severity of the reported vulnerability, the CERT/CC may take further action to address the vulnerability and coordinate with the software vendor.

KnowledgeBase and Vulnerability Notes

The CERT/CC regularly publishes Vulnerability Notes in the CERT KnowledgeBase.[7][8] Vulnerability Notes include information about recent vulnerabilities that were researched and coordinated, and how individuals and organizations may mitigate such vulnerabilities.

The Vulnerability Notes database is not meant to be comprehensive.

Vulnerability Analysis Tools

The CERT/CC provides a number of free tools to the security research community.[9] Some tools offered include the following.

Training

The CERT/CC periodically offers training courses for researchers, or organizations looking to establish their own PSIRTs.[10]

Present

CERT was key in the news of de-anonymization of Tor (anonymity network) in the summer of 2014.[11][12][13]

In the fall of 2014, it may have assisted the FBI in taking down SilkRoad 2.0.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About Us: The CERT Division". Software Engineering Institute. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  2. ↑ "Trademarks and Service Marks". Software Engineering Institute. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 2014-12-07.
  3. ↑ "U.S. Department of Homeland Security Announces Partnership with Carnegie Mellon's CERT Coordination Center". SEI Press Release. Carnegie Mellon University. September 15, 2003. Retrieved 2014-12-07.
  4. ↑ "National CSIRTs". Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  5. ↑ CERT/CC. "The CERT Division". Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "Vulnerability Disclosure Policy". Software Engineering Institute. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  7. ↑ "CERT KnowledgeBase". Software Engineering Institute. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 2014-12-07.
  8. ↑ Cory Bennett. "New initiative aims to fix software security flaws". TheHill. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Vulnerability Analysis Tools". Software Engineering Institute. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  10. ↑ "CERT Training Courses". Software Engineering Institute. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  11. ↑ "Why was the Black Hat talk on Tor de-anonymization mysteriously canceled?". Washington Post. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  12. ↑ "How (& why) feds killed a talk on Tor-hacking at Black Hat (exclusive)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "Tor Has Been Breached - What Now?". Technewsworld.com. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "How the FBI Took Down Silk Road 2.0 and 400 Other Dark Web Sites". PCMAG. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
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