FEDERAL COMPUTER INCIDENT RESPONSE CAPABILITY (FEDCIRC)
The need for an incident handling capability that crosses agency
boundaries has never been greater.  Almost all federal agencies
are now connected to the Internet and exchange information
regularly.  The large number of Internet-related incidents that
have occurred in the past year, along with the increase and
complexity of threats, requires agencies to take seriously their
incident handling capability.  The Office of Management and
Budget has emphasized this need in OMB Circular A-130, Appendix
III, by requiring agencies to be able to respond in a manner that
both protects their own information and helps to protect the
information of others who might be affected by the incident.  The
private sector is undergoing the same rapid growth in network
dependency as the federal community and is in need of the same
incident handling support.  Several private-sector organizations
have foreseen this need and have begun to offer incident handling
services.

In answer to the need for a U.S. Government-wide incident
response capability to assist federal civilian agencies, the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated
the Federal Computer Incident Response Capability (FedCIRC)
Program.  Initially funded by the Government Information
Technology Services (GITS) Innovation Fund Committee, FedCIRC
assists federal civilian agencies in their incident handling
efforts by providing proactive and reactive computer security-
related services.  This CSL Bulletin describes the FedCIRC
Program.

FedCIRC History
In 1989, NIST and several other organizations sought to develop a
group to facilitate sharing computer security, vulnerability, and
threat information.  The group evolved into the Forum of Incident
Response and Security Teams (FIRST).  FIRST is now an
international coalition which brings together a variety of
computer security incident response teams from government,
commercial, and academic organizations.  Currently FIRST has more
than 55 incident response teams participating as members.  While
developing FIRST, NIST recognized the need for a centralized
group to handle computer security-related incidents for the
federal civilian community.  Until now, that need was not fully
addressed primarily due to funding and control issues.  The
funding required could not be placed solely on one agency.=20
Additionally, a neutral organization was needed to house the
capability.  Accordingly, NIST conceived and proposed the idea of
FedCIRC to GITS.  GITS approved the proposal and on October 21,
1996, FedCIRC became operational.

The mission of FedCIRC is to develop a self-sustaining incident
response capability that meets the needs of the federal civilian
agencies.  It is envisioned that the needs of the agencies will
evolve as agencies begin to develop their own incident handling
capabilities.  FedCIRC will be flexible in its mission to meet
those ever-changing needs.  Critical to the success of FedCIRC is
a continued awareness of what the federal civilian agencies are
doing on their own and where they need FedCIRC assistance.=20
FedCIRC combines the experience and expertise of NIST's Computer
Security Division, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's
CERT(SM) Coordination Center (CERT/CC), and the Department of
Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC) to provide
agencies with cost-reimbursable, direct technical assistance and
incident handling support.=20

Operations
The FedCIRC operations team is comprised of individuals from
three distinct organizations (NIST, CERT/CC, and CIAC) that
operate in concert.  Each organization has its prime roles and
responsibilities and also contributes to the overall project.
NIST subcontracts the operational incident handling capability to
CERT/CC and CIAC.  NIST is responsible for operational management
and for facilitating the development of incident handling
standards and guidelines by utilizing the threat and
vulnerability data collected by FedCIRC.  The vulnerability
information will also be used in the analysis and testing of
software and other products. =20

Services
FedCIRC provides six primary services to federal civilian
agencies.  The amount of service depends on the subscription
level to which an agency or major operating unit subscribes.  The
services are:  incident handling information, incident response
and hotline support, annual FedCIRC incident handling conference,
semi-annual "state of the threat" subscriber meetings,
information security evaluation, and assistance in establishing
an on-site incident response capability.  These services are
briefly described in the following paragraphs.

Incident Handling Information
The incident handling information is the foundation of FedCIRC.=20
The availability of the incident response hotline support and the
collection, analysis, and publication of threat, vulnerability,
and other security-related data can only be accomplished if the
underlying infrastructure is in place.  The infrastructure
consists of the following activities:

=07      alert creation;
=07      interaction with other incident handling organizations, law
       enforcement, and vendors;
=07      threat and trend analysis;
=07      hotline availability;
=07      data tracking;
=07      vulnerability analysis;
=07      report generation;
=07      database maintenance;
=07      guidance documents (e.g., best practices);
=07      web site maintenance; and
=07      technology watch.

FedCIRC subscribers will receive by e-mail a Quarterly Summary
Report which contains sanitized data and statistics about types
of incidents, trends, and information on new tools and guidance
on preventing and handling incidents.  The Quarterly Summary
Report is available to the public and will include aggregate data
on number of calls, number of incidents handled, type of
incidents handled, type of systems attacked, and effects of
incidents.  It will not contain names of sites or FedCIRC
subscribers. =20

FedCIRC will maintain a public web site to provide access to a
repository of tools and to give example practices.  The following
outline presents some of the topics to be covered on the FedCIRC
web site.

=07      What is FedCIRC? (a description of FedCIRC services and how
       to take advantage of them);
=07      e-mail list services;
=07      alerts and advisories;
=07      useful security tools;
=07      repository of useful computer security-related documents
       such as best practices;
=07      virus information;
=07      pointers to FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security
       Teams);
=07      pointers to other security servers;
=07      communication with FedCIRC; and
=07      training opportunities.

A set of FedCIRC security alerts, modeled after the CIAC
Bulletins and the CERT Advisories, will be made available to
FedCIRC members as events require.  These alerts will include a
description of the vulnerability or problem, the platform(s),
operating system(s) affected, the impact of the vulnerability
problem, and patches and work-arounds, if available.  The alerts
will reflect the combined expertise and perspectives of the
nation's most experienced incident response teams.

Incident Response and Hotline Support
Emergency technical assistance in response to computer security
incidents is provided 24 hours per day, seven days a week.  A
"help desk" provides assistance during "normal business hours"
(8:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST/EDT).  Assistance is provided via
telephone, e-mail, and pager hotline.=20

Incident response support ranges from providing agencies with
direct technical support to handle computer security incidents or
providing backup support to agency response teams dealing with
large and complex incidents, to only providing agency response
teams with information on threats, vulnerabilities, and
countermeasures that allow agency teams to effectively deal with
incidents on their own.=20

Many activities are required to provide an incident response.=20
Some sample activities that provide this support include:

=07      problem analysis:  analyze the problem, determine the
       magnitude of the threat, and provide technical assistance in
       identifying and closing vulnerabilities;

=07      technical advice:  issue advisories to the agencies warning
       of the problem and describing countermeasures;

=07      technical advice:  provide guidelines on implementing
       vulnerability patches and other security controls;

=07      assistance:  facilitate the interaction of victims and
       relevant law enforcement agencies in reporting security
       incidents involving violations of the law;

=07      assistance:  coordinate with other security organizations
       including the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams
       (FIRST);

=07      assistance:  work with vendors to provide critical security
       patches and work-arounds; and

=07      vulnerability analysis:  perform vulnerability analysis to
       identify a vulnerability's root cause to mitigate or prevent
       potential problems before they occur.

The types of operating systems FedCIRC will handle include:=20
UNIX, VMS, MVS, DOS, Windows, Mac, NT, VM, and MPE-XE.  The types
of protocols covered include:  TCP/IP, IPX, Ethernet, LAT,
DECnet, Token Ring, and FDDI.

Annual FedCIRC Incident Handling Conference
An annual conference on the current state of security threats and
security improvement practices will be held in the Washington,
D.C. area.  The conference will provide an opportunity for
federal agencies to share lessons learned from security incidents
and the results of security improvement efforts.  The annual
conference will be a two-day event addressing countermeasures
identified as reducing the current risks to federal information
systems.  Some of the proposed agenda topics or tracks for the
annual conference are:

=07      status of the FedCIRC effort;
=07      updates from various FedCIRC members, e.g., successes,
       lessons learned;
=07      sessions on forming and sustaining an organic incident
       response capability;
=07      session on incident escalation and when to contact the
       FedCIRC hotline; and
=07      trade show exhibit space for vendors.

Semi-Annual "State of the Threat" Subscriber Meetings
In a given year, two subscriber meetings will be conducted.=20
Meeting agendas will consist of two and a half days of briefings
on current incident trends, recent vulnerabilities, latest
viruses, and concentrated training.  Detailed descriptions,
impacts, fixes, and work-arounds will be disseminated at
subscriber meetings.  FedCIRC subscribers will share related
experiences, current practices, policies, and procedures during
these meetings.  General topics to be covered during the state-
of-the-threat meetings will include:

=07      an overview of FedCIRC and its goals;
=07      a description of FedCIRC services;
=07      a review of FedCIRC expectations placed on subscriber
       agencies;
=07      current incident trends;
=07      recent vulnerabilities -- descriptions, impacts and fixes or
       work-arounds;
=07      current intruder tools -- descriptions, usage,
       countermeasures;
=07      recent viruses and identification of anti-virus packages to
       combat them or interim protection methods;
=07      a review of existing viruses and vulnerabilities that
       continue to be exploited;
=07      presentations by FedCIRC members describing related
       experiences and current practices;
=07      open discussion and questions and answers about relevant
       policies and procedures; and
=07      technical training seminars, including:

       -      Internet Security for System and Network
              Administrators,
       -      Connecting to the Internet Securely,
       -      LAN Security for Desktop Systems - Novell, Windows
              95/NT, and
       -      Virus Detection, Eradication, and Prevention.

The training that is provided during the semi-annual subscriber
meetings will evolve as required to address current computer and
information risks.=20

Information Security Evaluation
An information security evaluation (ISE) of a single agency
program will be conducted.  The program to be evaluated will be
identified prior to signing an interagency agreement.  The
evaluation will be performed over a four-month time frame and
will be tailored to the subscriber's needs.  The ISE assessment
includes a review of selected components of the agency's network
policy, infrastructure, and network topology.  The assessment
identifies high-leverage improvement opportunities and the most
serious network vulnerabilities.

Recommendations on improving the security of the program will be
presented in a report.  A one-day training session designed for
the agency and addressing the report's recommendations will be
presented on-site for all network and security administrators.=20

Assistance in Establishing an On-Site Incident Response
Capability
Mentoring and hands-on training at CERT/CC and/or CIAC will be
conducted for a maximum of five students.  Subscriber agencies
are responsible for students' travel and accommodations.=20
Training will be tailored to the needs of the subscriber.  The
training consists of working with incident handling specialists
to answer hotline calls, handle incidents, and prepare alerts.=20
All the issues, such as dealing with the press, law enforcement,
security and network experts, and vendors, will be explored
through first-hand experience.=20

This training covers topics such as:

=07      volunteer Incident Response Capability (IRC) option;
=07      incident escalation to FedCIRC;
=07      defining a budget and sustaining it over fiscal years;
=07      space, equipment and personnel;
=07      operational issues - incident handling procedures, physical,
       and electronic security;
=07      press issues;
=07      confidential versus public information;
=07      developing technical documents and standard replies;
=07      developing a FAQ (Frequently Asked Question);
=07      training constituency on reporting incidents, encryption,
       and other computer-related security topics;
=07      types of incidents;
=07      types of responses;
=07      importance of reference numbers;
=07      staffing requirements; and
=07      information requests.

Funding
FedCIRC is only funded for the first year through the Government
Information Technology Services (GITS) Innovation Fund.  At the
end of the first year, the GITS committee will make a
determination whether to provide an additional half year of
funding.  The option for additional funding is based on agency
buy-in and on what has been accomplished through FedCIRC=FEs first
year.  The plan to convert the FedCIRC pilot project into a self-
sustaining program is through agency subscriptions.  Agencies
subscribe to FedCIRC Incident Response Handling Services based on
several yearly subscription rates below.  The services provided
under each subscription rate can be tailored to the agency's
individual needs.

Platinum      -- $250,000.
Gold          -- $110,000.
Silver        -- $ 50,000.

Contact Information
For more detailed information about FedCIRC, contact Marianne
Swanson or Fran Nielsen at 301-975-4369 or e-mail at
fedcirc.info@nist.gov.  The FedCIRC web site can be reach at the
URL:  http://csrc.nist.gov/fedcirc.  If incident handling
assistance is needed, please contact the FedCIRC Hotline at 412-
268-6321 or e-mail at fedcirc@nist.gov.