November 14, 2002

MEMORANDUM TO CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICERS

The Federal Computer Incident Reporting Center (FedCIRC) has developed a new improved incident reporting system. This system provides a secure web-enabled means of reporting computer security incidents. Incidents will be sent directly to the CERT database as well as to the FedCIRC watch. This new system will assist analysts in providing timely handling of your security incidents as well as the ability to conduct improved analysis.

This memorandum reiterates the responsibility of Federal civilian agencies to report all unauthorized system activity quickly and accurately to FedCIRC at GSA, and where appropriate to law enforcement authorities such as the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center as required by the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA). Department of Defense entities should continue to report security incidents to their respective computer emergency response centers.

Agencies should submit computer security incident reports to FedCIRC using this secure form by following the "Report an Incident" link at www.us-cert.gov/federal/.

For additional information regarding the FedCIRC incident handling program contact Michael Smith at (202) 708-5060 or michaelc.smith@gsa.gov.

Thank you for your attention to these important security initiatives.