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A computer emergency response team (CERT) is a group of experts who respond to cybersecurity incidents. These teams deal with the evolution of malware, viruses and other cyberattacks.
Techopedia Explains Computer Emergency Response Team
In general, the designation of CERT is helpful in applying real-world solutions to various cybersecurity problems. They may be government contractors or employees of a major corporation. For example, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) operates under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Although many aspects of the group operations are targeted at traditional hacking methods like viruses and malware, it is reductive to think of a CERT as an “antivirus team.” New kinds of cyberattacks are surfacing all the time, and security professionals need to stay ahead of these problems. They need to look at end-point security, as well as security for data in use and data at rest. They need to do testing and simulations to anticipate security problems before they arise. They also need to quickly do damage control on any problems that have not been anticipated. The work of a CERT encompasses a wide spectrum of security activities aimed at preventing and minimizing cyberattacks from wherever they originate, and it also involves doing productive work to reduce occurrences of these problems in the future.
