FIRST

🌎 In this week's "Improving Security Across Nations with FIRST" video series, we spotlight Tom Millar, Cybersecurity Senior Advisor at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Co-chair of the FIRST TLP SIG. He shares how a connected community turns individual insight into collective defense: 🚦 Trusted conversations at scale - Helped shape and standardize the Traffic Light Protocol through CISA and the FIRST TLP SIG, a simple set of labels that lets defenders share sensitive information safely, because the more frictionless trust becomes, the faster we can act 📋 Community-powered programs - The KEV Catalog and the CVE Program only work when the community participates; CISA recently launched an online form to make nominating vulnerabilities easier, and is transforming the CVE Program it has led for two decades 🤝 Networks that hold under pressure - When a chain of SharePoint vulnerabilities dropped on a Friday evening in summer 2025, relationships built over years let CISA notify hundreds of entities under active attack 📺 Watch to discover how Tom's journey from Air Force Korean linguist to defending critical infrastructure shows that the network you build is how the mission gets done. #CyberDefense #cybersecurity #infosec #security

The National CERT of the Republic of Serbia (SRB-CERT) has an unofficial motto: “knowledge is power”. More to the point, the team is focussed on sharing that knowledge with other people and, hence, on distributing the power. Their adaptive training sessions provide organizations with the knowledge they need. While it’s not possible for every team to reach the same number of sectors or have a large training platform, the idea is still the same. Knowledge is power, adaptability helps share that power.

🚨 Last Call: Apply for the Women of FIRST (WoF) Mentorship Program by August 31! 🚨 The deadline is approaching! August 31 is the final day to express your interest in participating in the inaugural Women of FIRST (WoF) Mentorship Program. While rooted in the Women of FIRST community, this program welcomes cybersecurity professionals of all backgrounds who are interested in learning, mentoring, and building meaningful connections across the global FIRST community. The mentorship experience is designed as a 6-9 month program for working professionals, providing opportunities to learn from others, share experiences, and build valuable connections across the cybersecurity ecosystem. Whether you're looking to accelerate your career, develop new skills, expand your network, or give back through mentoring, this program offers support and growth opportunities at every stage of your professional journey. Participants will have the opportunity to: Gain guidance from experienced cybersecurity leaders Expand their professional network across the FIRST community Develop leadership and career-planning skills Share expertise and support the growth of fellow cybersecurity professionals Build lasting connections with peers and mentors Together, we're creating more than a mentorship program. We're building a community that connects, empowers, and supports cybersecurity professionals throughout the FIRST ecosystem. ⏰ Don't miss your chance to be part of the inaugural cohort. Applications close on August 31. If you're interested in participating as a mentor or mentee, please complete the interest survey today: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eEdG4bHP The survey closes August 31. Submit your interest before the deadline!

Civil society organizations hold sensitive data on vulnerable populations and activists, but they rarely have security budgets that match the risk. In a perspective piece for Cybersecurity for NGOs: Attack Prevention and Threat Response, a new book from Protect.ngo. FIRST CEO, Chris Gibson makes the case that preparation, not budget size, is what determines whether an organization survives a cyberattack. His argument centers on three things NGOs can control: 1️⃣ Foundational security habits like network segmentation, multi-factor authentication, and retiring old credentials 2️⃣ Treating cybersecurity as a leadership issue rather than an IT problem, with response plans tested before a crisis hits 3️⃣ Building relationships with trusted incident response communities, like FIRST or regional CERTs, that provide real-time threat intelligence and peer support no single organization could develop alone Learn more: https://go.first.org/iY4k5 #cybersecurity #IncidentResponse

Get your organization in front of the right audience. 🌎 Sponsoring the FIRST Regional Symposium for Latin America & the Caribbean is a great opportunity to connect with cybersecurity professionals, strengthen relationships, and raise your organization’s profile within the regional incident response community. Join us in Mendoza, Argentina, October 21–22, 2026. 🎯 Connect. 🤝 Collaborate. 📣 Be part of the conversation. Explore sponsorship opportunities today: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dvCJRxRG #FIRSTLAC26 #FIRSTEvents #Cybersecurity #CSIRT #IncidentResponse

#CERTTonga was set up in a way that defied conventional planning and, ten years on, it has become an example of how to create a small CERT. A pioneering effort in the #Pacific that is rightly being celebrated this year. 🇹🇴

🚨 LAST CALL FOR SPEAKERS! 🚨 We’ve extended the deadline for the FIRST Latin America & Caribbean Regional Symposium 2026 Call for Speakers! 📅 New deadline: August 23 Have a cybersecurity topic, case study, research, or experience to share? This is your chance to bring your perspective to the FIRST community. 🎤 Get your proposal in before the new deadline! 👉 https://lnkd.in/dvCJRxRG #FIRST #FIRSTLAC #Cybersecurity #CallForSpeakers #IncidentResponse

The 2026 FIRST Regional Symposium for Latin America & the Caribbean is bringing cybersecurity and incident response professionals together in Mendoza, Argentina this October. Become a sponsor and help support meaningful conversations, knowledge sharing, and collaboration across the regional security community. 📅 October 21–22, 2026 📍 Mendoza, Argentina Interested in sponsoring? Learn more about the opportunities available: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dvCJRxRG #FIRSTLAC26 #FIRSTEvents #Cybersecurity #IncidentResponse #Sponsorship

Calling all cybersecurity professionals, academics, and CSIRTs to join us in Luxembourg for #VulnOptiCON 2026, FIRST's evolution of Vuln4Cast! 📆 September 23-25, 2026 Hosted in partnership with CIRCL (Computer Incident Response Center Luxembourg), this year's event theme is "The A-Eyes See All." Keynote speakers Jaya Baloo, COO & CISO at AISLE™ and a world-renowned top 100 CISO, and Regina Joseph, a leading behavioral scientist and applied forecasting expert, will share actionable strategies for defenders and forecasting teams facing unprecedented levels of change driven by AI. The three-day program covers: ✅ Global & Open Ecosystems: rethinking vulnerability tracking for an open security landscape ✅ Forecasting & Metrics: measuring and forecasting exploitation conditions ✅ Policy & Program Futures: what's next for the CVE Program ✅ Data & Observable Evidence: what happens when the industry sets its own standards ✅ Next-Gen Threat Detection: detecting threats that cannot yet be named 🎟️ Limited tickets available 🔗 Learn more about the speaker lineup: https://go.first.org/kxOHk #cybersecurity #IncidentResponse #VulnerabilityManagement

🌎 In this week's "Improving Security Across Nations with FIRST" video series, we spotlight Derek Manky, Chief Security Strategist and Global VP of Threat Intelligence at Fortinet, and FIRST CORE Founding Partner. He shares how Fortinet's founding partnership with FIRST CORE is closing the cyber skills gap and strengthening incident response worldwide: ✅ Founding partner commitment - FIRST CORE (Community, Operations, Resilience, Empower) builds on Fortinet's 15-year FIRST membership, funding FIRST's Community and Capacity Building Program to develop incident response capabilities in under-resourced regions ✅ Real-world impact - FIRST CORE has powered tabletop exercises like Cyber Crisis Unplugged in Copenhagen, the AfricaCERT-FIRST remote cyber drill, and Mobile Training Lab pilots across The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, and New Zealand ✅ Standards-driven defense - Fortinet integrates FIRST's EPSS and CVSS frameworks into a threat radar combining exploit prediction and criticality scoring, feeding SOC teams through SIEM/SOAR for faster, more accurate incident response 📺 Watch below!