About AusCERT

AusCERT is a leading Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) for Australia and provides information security advice to its members, including the higher education sector. We are a single point of contact for dealing with cyber security incidents affecting or involving member networks.

As a not-for-profit security group based at The University of Queensland, AusCERT helps members prevent, detect, respond to and mitigate cyber and Internet based attacks. Formed in 1993, AusCERT is one of the oldest CERTs in the world and was the first in Australia to operate as the national CERT, which it did until 2010.

AusCERT monitors and evaluates global cyber network threats and vulnerabilities, and remains on-call for members after hours. We publish the Security Bulletin Service, drawing on material from a variety of sources, with recommended prevention and mitigation strategies. AusCERT’s Incident Management Service can be an effective way to halt an ongoing cyber attack or, provide practical advice to assist in responding to and recovering from an attack.

The University of Queensland (UQ) is one of Australia’s premier learning and research institutions. UQ is renowned nationally and internationally for the quality of its teaching and research, ranking in the top 100 universities globally. Within the University, AusCERT is part of Information Technology Services (ITS).

AusCERT is self-funded and covers its operating costs through a variety of sources including member subscriptions, the annual AusCERT conference and service contracts.

As an active member of the Forum for Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) and Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT), we have access to accurate, timely and reliable information about emerging computer network threats and vulnerabilities on a regional and global basis. Additionally, AusCERT maintains a large network of trusted CERT contacts in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe and throughout Asia. We use these contacts to receive early warning of global threats and to assist in responding to incidents which span jurisdictions.

Further information about AusCERT services can be found here.