RCTS CERT is a service managed by FCT’s FCCN Unit with the purpose of responding to computer security incidents related to the RCTS community – Science, Technology and Society Network.

Until 2014, FCCN Unit‘s Security Team (created in 2000) was called CERT.PT. After the creation of the National Cybersecurity Center (CNCS), whose incident response team assumed this designation, the scope of the team was redefined with a focus only on the responsibility for coordinating the incident response of the research and education communities connected to RCTS, having assumed the current designation of RCTS CERT.

The document available [here] (only in portuguese) describes the cyber-security incident control measures within RCTS.

The establishment of the National CSIRT Network (in 2008), the national forum for incident response teams, was of particular importance in creating effective threat response and collaboration mechanisms between CSIRT (Computer Emergency Response Team) teams in Portugal. The Secretariat function of this forum is provided by the National Cybersecurity Center (CNCS).

Currently, RCTS CERT’s mission includes a contribution to the cybersecurity effort in the context of RCTS’ user community, having obtained international recognition in its area of activity: in early 2011 it became a member of FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams) and obtained the Trusted Introducer certification in 2015, becoming the first national certified team. Trusted Introducer is a cohalition of security incident response teams under GÉANT‘s TF-CSIRT.

In a more preventive component, RCTS CERT issues security alerts and produces recommendations regarding vulnerabilities, potential security risks and malicious activities.

Specifically, RCTS CERT has several sub-services available to the RCTS community.