Program focuses on security response

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://news.com.com/2100-1009_3-1025613.html

By Robert Lemos 
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
July 14, 2003

The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Coordination Center, a 
security-incident clearinghouse, introduced on Monday a program to 
certify information technology professionals in incident handling and 
response. 

The certification program will train participants in how to react to 
security incidents and network intrusions. Those people who take five 
courses, including an elective, and pass a test administered by the 
Software Engineering Institute will be granted a Certified Computer 
Security Incident Handler Certification (CCSIHC). The Software 
Engineering Institute is part of Carnegie Mellon University and 
manages the CERT Coordination Center.

"The incident response certification is a benchmark that says that the 
leader knows how to lead and manage an incident response team," said 
Barbara Laswell, technical manager of practices, training and 
development at the institute. "It is important to know that the leader 
of the team has the knowledge to do that job." 

While security certifications have been criticized by many security 
experts as not testing the true knowledge of the field, the 
certification of information technology professionals got a big boost 
in February from the Bush administration's National Strategy to Secure 
Cyberspace. In its third of five priorities, the certification program 
highlights the need for more security training and better ways to 
certify knowledge.

The government should, the program states, "promote private sector 
support for well-coordinated and widely recognized professional 
cybersecurity certifications." It says Department of Homeland Security 
should "encourage efforts that are needed to build foundations for the 
development of security certification programs"--programs that it 
hopes "will be broadly accepted by the public and private sectors." 

Last November, the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) 
introduced its Security+ certification program, which it hopes will 
become a standard requirement for those seeking network administration 
jobs at companies and government agencies. CompTIA is made up of two 
dozen trade and government security experts, including representatives 
from Microsoft, IBM and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

Perhaps the best known security certification is the the Certified 
Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) rating given by the 
International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium. 

"Those certifications are broad and cover a variety of topic areas," 
Laswell said of the Security+ and CISSP ratings. "This certification 
targets specifically incident response. The others are horizontal 
certifications across domains--we are the vertical slice." 

The certification created by the CERT Coordination Center prepares 
participants to create and manage a Computer Security Incident 
Response Team, according to the Software Engineering Institute. 
Information on the new certification program can be found on the CERT 
Coordination Center Web site.



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