GSA Selects Software Engineering Institute's CERT Coordination Center for FedCIRC

GSA #9506

August 11, 1998
Contact: Bill Bearden
(202) 501-1231

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U. S. General Services Administration (GSA) has selected Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute's Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (CERT/CC) to form the operational core of the Federal Computer Incident Response Capability (FedCIRC) initiative. This announcement comes after months of detailed research, evaluation, and preparation by GSA's Federal Technology Service Office of Information Security.

The Chief Information Officers' Council requested that GSA become the manager of the FedCIRC initiative, which will be fully implemented on October 1, 1998. For the past two years, the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology has successfully operated FedCIRC as a pilot project.

Upon full implementation, FedCIRC's operations will expand. The expanded FedCIRC will provide containment and recovery assistance to agencies and departments of the Federal government when faced with information technology security related events such as computer viruses, unauthorized intrusion, misuse, or technical malfunction.

FedCIRC is the focal point of a partnership between Federal civilian agencies, the Department of Defense, law enforcement, and academia. The purpose of the partnership is to protect information and components of the nation's critical information infrastructure. Toward this end, FedCIRC is building a close working relationship with the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, which is responsible for detecting, deterring, assessing, warning of, investigating, and responding to attacks on the critical infrastructures of the United States.

For more information on FedCIRC or the selection of Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute's CERT/CC, contact Judith Spencer at (202) 708-5600.