Date: Fri 9 Dec 88 23:38:59-EST From: William L. Scherlis Subject: CERT NEWS RELEASE No. 597-88 (202) 695-0192 (Info.) (202) 697-3189 (Copies) IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 6, 1988 (202) 697-5737 (Public/Industry) DARPA ESTABLISHES COMPUTER EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced today that it has established a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to address computer security concerns of research users of the Internet, which includes ARPANET. The Coordination Center for the CERT is located at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. In providing direct service to the Internet community, the CERT will focus on the special needs of the research community and serve as a prototype for similar operations in other computer communities. The National Computer Security Center and the National Institute of Standards and Technology will have a leading role in coordinating the creation of these emergency response activities. The CERT is intended to respond to computer security threats such as the recent self-replicating computer program ("computer virus") that invaded many defense and research computers. The CERT will assist the research network communities in responding to emergency situations. It will have the capability to rapidly establish communications with experts working to solve the problems, with the affected computer users and with government authorities as appropriate. Specific responses will be taken in accordance with DARPA policies. It will also serve as a focal point for the research community for identification and repair of security vulnerabilities, informal assessment of existing systems in the research community, improvement to emergency response capability, and user security awareness. An important element of this function is the development of a network of key points of contact, including technical experts, site managers, government action officers, industry contacts, executive level decision-makers and investigative agencies, where appropriate. Because of the many network, computer, and systems architectures and their associated vulnerabilities, no single organization can be expected to maintain an in-house expertise to respond on its own to computer security threats, particularly those that arise in the research community. As with biological viruses, the solutions must come from an organized community response of experts. The role of the CERT Coordination Center at the SEI is to provide the supporting mechanisms and to coordinate the activities of experts in DARPA and associated communities. The SEI has close ties to the Department of Defense, to defense and commercial industry, and to the research community. These ties place the SEI in a unique position to provide coordination support to the software experts in research laboratories and in industry who will be responding in emergencies and to the communities of potentially affected users. The SEI is a federally-funded research and development center, operating under DARPA sponsorship with the Air Force Systems Command (Electronic Systems Division) serving as executive agent. Its goal is to accelerate the transition of software technology to defense systems. Computer security is primarily a software problem, and the presence of CERT at the SEI will enhance the technology transfer mission of the SEI in security-related areas. -END- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: DARPA ESTABLISHES CERT, 12/6/88 Q: Can you provide background on earlier break-ins? A: On November 2, 1988, thousands of computers connected to unclassified DoD computer networks were attacked by a virus. Although the virus did not damage or compromise data, it did have the effect of denying service to thousands of computer users. The computer science research community associated with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), along with many other research laboratories and military sites that use these networks, quickly responded to this threat. They developed mechanisms to eliminate the infection, to block the spread of the self-replicating program, and to immunize against further attack by similar viruses. Software experts from the University of California at Berkeley, with important contributions from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other network sites, rapidly analyzed the virus and developed immunization techniques. These same software experts also provided important assistance in the more recent Internet intrusion of 27-28 November. As the events unfolded, DARPA established an ad hoc operation center to help coordinate the activities of software experts working around the clock and to provide information to appropriate government officials. The operations center had three main tasks. It facilitated communications among the many groups affected, it ensured that government organizations were promptly informed of developments, and it provided initial technical analysis in DoD. Although the threat was contained quickly, a more maliciously designed virus could have done serious damage. The recent events serve as a warning that our necessarily increasing reliance on computers and networks, while providing important new capabilities, also creates new kinds of vulnerabilities. The Department of Defense considers this an important national issue that is of major concern in both the defense and commercial sectors. The DoD is developing a technology and policy response that will help reduce risk and provide an emergency reaction response. Q: Who will be on the CERT? A: The CERT will be a team of over 100 experts located throughout the U.S. whose expertise and knowledge will be called upon when needed. When not being called upon, they will continue their normal daily work. As noted in the release, these experts will include: technical experts, site managers, government action officers, industry contacts, executive-level decision-makers and representatives from investigative agencies. Q: Is the CERT different from the Coordination Center that is at the SEI? A: Yes. The Coordination Center will be made up of six or so people who will serve as the communications and nerve center for the total CERT. Q: What kinds of actions will the CERT be able to take in response to security threats? A: The CERT will have no authority of its own. It may make recommendations that will be acted upon by DoD authorities. Q: Is the CERT fully operational now? A: We are in the very early stages of gathering people for the CERT. We are first concentrating on collecting technical experts. A staff is in place at SEI, but details are still being worked out. Q: Will there just be one CERT? A: The intent is that each major computer community may decide to establish its own CERT. Each CERT will therefore serve only a particular community and have a particular technical expertise. (The DARPA/SEI CERT will serve, for example, the research community and have expertise in Berkeley-derived UNIX systems and other systems as appropriate.) The National Computer Security Center and the National Institute of Standards and Technology will support the establishment of the CERTs and coordinate among them. Q: What are the special needs of the research community that their CERT will serve? A: The special challenge of the research community is improving the level of computer security without inhibiting the innovation of computer technology. In addition, as is often DARPA's role, their CERT will serve as a prototype to explore the CERT concept so that other groups can learn and establish their own. Q: Does the CERT Coordination Center have a press point of contact? A: No. Their function is to serve as a nerve center for the user community. -------  Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253