First National Computer Emergency Response Team launched

The first national Computer Emergency Response Team was launched yesterday, 10 November 2008. The CERT service will be run under the auspices of the Irish Reporting and Information Security Service (IRISS) www.iriss.ie.

The Irish Reporting and Information Security Service (IRISS) is a not for profit organisation staffed by a group of volunteers made up from the best information security professionals in the country providing the following services;

• Incident Reporting
  IRISS provides clients with a resource whereby computer security incidents can be reported anonymously and in confidence.
• Alerts and Warnings
  IRISS provides advanced alerts and warnings on potential vulnerabilities and threats facing their information technology infrastructure. Where possible these alerts will be tailored specifically for the Irish audience and also to meet clients’ requirements such as non-technical alerts for owner managers of SMEs and more detailed technical alerts for IT specialists working for larger firms.
• Conduct Research
  Research and surveys will be conducted on information security matters within Ireland to get a better understanding as to what is happening in the Irish Internet community. This should provide meaningful statistics to help drive home some key messages to companies and raise security awareness levels using statistics pertinent to the Irish market.
• Sanitised Attack Notifications
  IRISS provides an alerting service to companies regarding attacks that are actively happening to other Irish companies so they can better prevent the same attack happening to them.
• Provide Guidelines and Advice
  IRISS will provide clients with information, advice and best practises on how to secure and manage the information technology platforms their businesses are dependant on. IRISS also supports a number of online forums where clients can raise issues and queries with our experts or others within our community.

You can sign up for the service at no cost at https://www.iriss.ie/FWA5EIRE/Resources/Signup.aspx.