US-CERT is charged with protecting our nation's Internet infrastructure by coordinating defense against and response to cyber attacks. US-CERT is responsible for

• analyzing and reducing cyber threats and vulnerabilities
• disseminating cyber threat warning information
• coordinating incident response activities

Information is available from the US-CERT web site, mailing lists, and RSS channels.

US-CERT also provides a way for citizens, businesses, and other institutions to communicate and coordinate directly with the United States government about cyber security.

• More About US-CERT
• News
• Events

1. Who runs US-CERT?
   US-CERT is the operational arm of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It is a public-private partnership.

2. Where is US-CERT located?
   US-CERT is located in the Washington DC Metropolitan area.

3. What is US-CERT's relationship to NCSD and DHS?
   US-CERT is the operational arm of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The NCSD was established by DHS to serve as the federal government's cornerstone for cyber security coordination and preparedness, including implementation of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace .

4. What is the relationship between US-CERT and other groups with "CERT" in their name?
   Worldwide, there are more than 250 organizations that use the name "CERT" or a similar name and deal with cyber security response. US-CERT is independent of these groups, though we may coordinate with them on security incidents. The first of these types of organizations is the CERT® Coordination Center (CERT/CC), established at Carnegie Mellon University in 1988. When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created US-CERT, it called upon the CERT/CC to contribute expertise for protecting the nation's information infrastructure by coordinating defense against and response to cyber attacks. Through US-CERT, DHS and the CERT/CC work jointly on these activities.

5. Who are US-CERT's partners?
   As it grows, US-CERT will include partnerships with private sector cyber security vendors, academia, federal agencies, Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), state and local governments, and domestic and international organizations. Working together, these groups will coordinate national and international efforts to address key cyber security issues.

6. How does the Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) Program work to protect submitted information?
   The PCII Program, established in response to the Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002 (CII Act), creates a new framework for protecting certain types of information. The PCII program enables members of the private sector to, for the first time, voluntarily submit confidential information regarding the nation's critical infrastructure to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the assurance that the information will be protected from public disclosure. More details about how information can be protected under the CII Act can be found on the Department of Homeland Security web site.

Press Releases

Remarks of Assistant Secretary of Cybersecurity and Communications Greg Garcia at the New York Metro Infragard Alliance Security Summit
December 11, 2007

FBI Announces Results of Bot Roast II
FBI's "Operation Bot Roast II" identifies and captures eight individuals responsible for infecting over 1 million compromised computers
November 29, 2007

Remarks of Cybersecurity and Communications Assistant Secretary Greg Garcia at the Dartmouth CIO/CISO Executive Workshop on Cyber Security
October 11, 2007

Remarks of Cybersecurity and Communications Assistant Secretary Greg Garcia at the National Cyber Security Awareness Month Kick-Off Summit
October 1, 2007

Remarks of Cybersecurity and Communications Assistant Secretary Greg Garcia at the 3rd Annual Government Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (GFIRST) Conference
June 26, 2007

Remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at the Northern Virginia Technology Council
March 15, 2007

Remarks by Assistant Secretary Gregory Garcia at the RSA Conference
February 8, 2007

Statement by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on the Appointment of the Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Telecommunications
September 18, 2006

Homeland Security Hosts Multilateral Conference on Cyber Security
June 28, 2006

Press Archive

Webcasts

Webcast: Voice Over-IP
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
2:00pm - 3:00pm (Eastern)

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's National Cyber Security Division and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center invite you to participate in the next session of the National Webcast Initiative.

Don't Miss Out - REGISTER NOW for this FREE Webcast!
Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

To register, please visit: http://www.msisac.org/webcast/
(Please note: For security purposes, please copy and paste or type this address into your Internet browser.)

Why This Session is Important to You:
VoIP continues to grow in popularity, with some estimates predicting that the number of subscribers will increase in 2008 to nearly 17 million. While there can be many advantages of VoIP, including convenience, enhanced functionality and cost, there are also security concerns that must be addressed. Denial of Service attacks, vishing-which is a form of social engineering aimed at VoIP users-and other malicious attacks against VoIP networks and users are increasing challenges that we need to understand.

This webcast will focus on the security risks associated with VoIP-at both a user and enterprise level-and provide practical advice on how to defend against these risks.

THE JUNE 18TH NATIONAL WEBCAST ARCHIVE IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING!

The third of the 2008 National Webcast series was held on June 18th with a featured presentation on Security 101 for Your PC. Over 800 individuals representing 47 states and 3 countries registered for this spectacular event. Opening remarks were provided by Mr. William Pelgrin, Chair of the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, followed by Mr. Lance Spitzner, Founder and President of HoneyTech and Ms. Barbara Chung, Security Advisor for Education, Microsoft Corporation.

We wish to thank the presenters and the participants who helped make the event such a great success!

To view the archived presentation, please visit: http://www.msisac.org/webcast/
(Please note: For security purposes, please copy and paste or type this address into your Internet browser.)

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The National Webcast Initiative: The Department of Homeland Security's National Cyber Security Division and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) have partnered to establish the National Webcast Initiative comprising a series of national webcasts which examine critical and timely cyber security issues. Embracing the concept that security is everyone's responsibility, these webcasts are available to a broad audience to help raise awareness and knowledge levels. A number of vendors have offered their services at no cost to government, to help develop and deliver the webcasts.

The National Webcast Initiative is also coordinated by the New York State Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination http://www.cscic.state.ny.us and the New York State Forum http://www.nysforum.org/. For more information about the Initiative, please visit: http://www.msisac.org/webcast/.