Hello,
this is Koichiro "Sparky" Komiyama. I'm the manager of the Global
Coordination Division in JPCERT/CC. Our team's main missions are 1) to
communicate with CSIRTs / Security groups in other countries, and 2) to
help other countries / economies develop their own CSIRTs. In this post
I would like to introduce readers to one aspect of our CSIRT
development work.
By the request by Dr Kilnam Chon, the leader of the Africa Asia Forum,
JPCERT gave training for African engineers in Johannesburg, South
Africa. It was a three day course held in conjunction with AfriNIC-13
from November 20 to 22. JPCERT board member Professor Suguru Yamaguchi and I attended as trainers.
Together
with the class, we studied the wide range of technical topics which we
think are valuable for engineers working at a CSIRT. It also included
hands-on activities, with participants analyzing network traffic with
Wireshark on their own.
More than 25 people from all over Africa joined the course this time, exceeding our expectations.
There
are several reasons we think it's important to help others forming
CSIRTs. Personally, I believe in the idea of "Your Security is My
Security". In a borderless environment like the internet, we depend on
other countries heavily for our own security. Accordingly, to keep our
internet safe, we have to help others keep safe too. Due to rapid economic
growth, African internet usage is expanding. Africa needs new
strategies to cope, CSIRTs being one of these.
I
also strongly believe that any CSIRT in Africa should be established by
Africans themselves. We may give them materials, support their own
training course development, as well as any other support that we can
provide, but still we are just supporters. In the past few days, I've
talked to many participants and I'm very glad that they are very
positive about establishing CSIRTs. The challenge for the partnership
between African teams and JPCERT/CC is not straightforward, however we
are confident about its future.
We'll
come back to Africa next year to provide training, incorporating the
valuable feedback received from participants this time around. See you all in
Dar es Salaam next May.
I would particularly like to express my great appreciation to Dr Kilnam Chon from AAF and AfriNIC for the great opportunity. I'd also like to thank the Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry(METI) for their continuous support. Last but not least, thanks to all the training participants - see you next time!
Koichiro Komiyama, CISSP, is the Deputy Director of the Global Coordination Division JPCERT/CC (Japan Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center). His primary roles are to enhance international collaboration with overseas CSIRTs, and to support the establishment and operations of CSIRTs in their initial stage.
He's a former board member of FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams), the premier organization and recognized global leader in incident response. He is also a research scholar at the Keio University Global Research Institute (G-SEC). His current focus is related to research on CBM and Norms of cyberspace.
