Posted by SecExtra on February 01st, 2010

As computer hackers and scammers become increasingly intelligent, it is imperative people are careful what kind of information they release on the internet. To a much greater scale, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team works to protect and serve the Federal Civil Executive Branch, also known as .gov.

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, US-CERT, provides response support and defense against any kind of cyber attacks for .gov. In addition, it works with information sharing and collaboration with state and local government, industry and international partners.

To ensure that all information is secure and safe, this department works with federal agencies, the research community, state and local governments, and many others to spread cyber security information to the general public. The hope is by broadcasting information regarding cyber security, people will be more cautious about what is released online.

In general, the US-CERT is a public-private partnership that is essentially the operational arm of the National Cyber Security Division at the Department of Homeland Security. It was established by the Department of Homeland Security to focus on cyber security coordination and preparedness.

There are over 250 organizations worldwide using the name Computer Emergency Readiness Team or something similar. While the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team is independent of these groups, they still coordinate with the other organizations on security incidents. Regardless, the whole goal behind this organization is to maintain and protect the security of the national government and general public.

Because this is a public/private partnership, you can go to the web site to report an incident, phishing, vulnerability or anything related. This goes a long way toward keeping the community, government, and country safe from cyber attacks.