| Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams | |
| Formation: | August 7, 1995 |
| Abbreviation: | FIRST.org |
| Type: | 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity |
| Headquarters: | Cary, North Carolina |
| Leader Title: | Chair of the board |
| Leader Name: | Tracy Bills |
| Founded Date: | 1989 |
| Num Members: | 750+ organizations from more than 110 countries |
The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is a global forum of incident response and security teams.[1] They aim to improve cooperation between security teams on handling major cybersecurity incidents. FIRST is an association of incident response teams with global coverage.[2]
The 2018 Report of the United Nations Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation noted FIRST as a neutral third party which can help build trust and exchange best practices and tools during cybersecurity incidents.[3]
FIRST was founded as an informal group by a number of incident response teams after the WANK (computer worm) highlighted the need for better coordination of incident response activities between organizations, during major incidents.[4] It was formally incorporated in California on August 7, 1995, and moved to North Carolina on May 14, 2014.[5]
In 2020, FIRST launched EthicsFIRST, a code of Ethics for Incident Response teams.[6]
Annually, FIRST offers a Suguru Yamaguchi Fellowship, which helps incident response teams with national responsibility gain further integration with the international incident response community.[7] It also maintains an Incident Response Hall of Fame, highlighting individuals who contributed significantly to the Incident Response community.[8]
FIRST maintains several international standards, including the Common Vulnerability Scoring System, a standard for expressing impact of security vulnerabilities;[9] the Traffic light protocol for classifying sensitive information;[10] and the Exploit Prediction Scoring System, an effort for predicting when software vulnerabilities will be exploited.[11]
FIRST is a partner of the International Telecommunication Union[12] (ITU) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia on Cybersecurity.[13] The ITU co-organizes with FIRST the Women in Cyber Mentorship Programme, which engages cybersecurity leaders in the field, and connects them with women worldwide.[14]
Together with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, FIRST also publishes guidelines for multi-party vulnerability disclosure, in scenarios such as the Heartbleed vulnerability in OpenSSL.[15]
In 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported Huawei Technologies Co. had been suspended from the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams due to changes to US technology export restrictions.[16] In 2017, a NATO-style coalition of 41 states, including all Gulf Cooperation Council states, intended to work closely with FIRST to heighten levels of cybersecurity cooperation.[17]
In his study of Internet Governance, Joseph Nye identified FIRST as an "incident response regime", supporting global cyber activities.[18]
Political scientists focused on international security have considered organizations such as FIRST to be transparency and confidence-building measures in cyberspace, "elements of international policy that reduce threats, build trust, and make relationships between states more predictable".[19]
The FIRST community has also been considered an example of "science diplomacy", as its technical community offers a means of navigating tensions in a way political actors re not able to.[20]