A Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a group of information security experts responsible for the protection against, detection of and response to an organization’s cybersecurity incidents. A CERT may focus on resolving incidents such as data breaches and denial-of-service attacks as well as providing alerts and incident handling guidelines. CERTs also conduct ongoing public awareness campaigns and engage in research aimed at improving security systems.
Regardless of whether they are called a CERT, CIRT, IRT or any other similar name, the role of all computer emergency response teams is comparable. All of these organizations are trying to accomplish the same incident response related goals of responding to computer security incidents to regain control and minimize damage, providing or assisting with effective incident response and recovery and preventing computer security incidents from reoccurring.
In general, an incident response team is responsible for protecting the organization from computer, network or cybersecurity problems that threaten an organization and its information. SecOps is followinguniversal model for incident response that has been in use for a long time is the “protect, detect and respond” model.
Even the most well-equipped and agile response processes are no match for preventing problems from occurring in the first place. To help keep attackers at bay, the CERT/CIRT implements preventative measures, which can be divided into two main categories.
Tools used by the CERT/CIRT scan the network 24/7 to flag any abnormalities or suspicious activities. Monitoring the network around the clock allows the CERT/CIRT to be notified immediately of emerging threats, giving them the best chance to prevent or mitigate harm.
When monitoring tools issue alerts, it is the responsibility of the CERT/CIRT to look closely at each one, discard any false positives, and determine how aggressive any actual threats are and what they could be targeting. This allows them to triage emerging threats appropriately, handling the most urgent issues first.
As soon as an incident is confirmed, the CERT/CIRT acts as first responder, performing actions like shutting down or isolating endpoints, terminating harmful processes (or preventing them from executing), deleting files, and more. The goal is to respond to the extent necessary while having as small an impact on business continuity as possible.
As a proactive measurement, the CERT/CIRT will work to actively scan your system for potential attack according to current cyber threat landscape. According to the intelligence, CERT/CIRT will take necessary preventive measurement.
The CERT/CIRT is responsible for collecting, maintaining, and regularly reviewing the log of all network activity and communications for the entire organization. This data helps define a baseline for “normal” network activity, can reveal the existence of threats, and can be used for remediation and forensics in the aftermath of an incident.
In the aftermath of an incident, the CERT/CIRT is responsible for figuring out exactly what happened when, how and why. During this investigation, the CERT/CIRT uses log data and other information to trace the problem to its source, which will help them prevent similar problems from occurring in the future.
Cybercriminals are constantly refining their tools and tactics—and in order to stay ahead of them, the CERT/CIRT needs to implement improvements on a continuous basis. During this step, the plans outlined in the Security Road Map come to life, but this refinement can also include hands-on practices such as red-teaming and purple-teaming.
The CERT/CIRT is responsible for regularly auditing their systems to ensure compliance with such regulations, which may be issued by their organization, by their industry, or by governing bodies. Acting in accordance with these regulations not only helps safeguard the sensitive data that the company has been entrusted with—it can also shield the organization from reputational damage and legal challenges resulting from a breach.
SecOps can help you build your own CERT/CIRT in your organizations premise. SecOps will provide all kind of consultancy regarding its formation, human resource recruitement, operations and others relevant works.
Building a CERT/CIRT is easy, but operating is something else. Its hard to find capable human resource to operate CERT/CIRT. SecOps will lend you skilled personel to operate your CERT/CIRT properly.