US-CERT's mission is to improve the nation's cybersecurity posture, coordinate cyber information sharing and proactively manage cyber risks to the nation while protecting the constitutional rights of Americans. US-CERT vision is to be a trusted global leader in cybersecurity - collaborative, agile, and responsive in a complex environment.

Information is available from the US-CERT web site, mailing lists, and RSS channels.

US-CERT also provides a way for citizens, businesses, and other institutions to communicate and coordinate directly with the United States government about cyber security.

1. Who runs US-CERT?
   US-CERT is the operational arm of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

2. Where is US-CERT located?
   US-CERT is located in the Washington DC Metropolitan area.

3. What is US-CERT's relationship to NCSD and DHS?
   US-CERT is the operational arm of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The NCSD was established by DHS to serve as the federal government's cornerstone for cyber security coordination and preparedness, including implementation of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace .

4. What is the relationship between US-CERT and other groups with "CERT" in their name?
   Worldwide, there are more than 250 organizations that use the name "CERT" or a similar name and deal with cyber security response. US-CERT is independent of these groups, though we may coordinate with them on security incidents. The first of these types of organizations is the CERT® Coordination Center (CERT/CC), established at Carnegie Mellon University in 1988. When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created US-CERT, it called upon the CERT/CC to contribute expertise for protecting the nation's information infrastructure by coordinating defense against and response to cyber attacks. Through US-CERT, DHS and the CERT/CC work jointly on these activities.

5. Who are US-CERT's partners?
   As it grows, US-CERT will include partnerships with private sector cyber security vendors, academia, federal agencies, Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), state and local governments, and domestic and international organizations. Working together, these groups will coordinate national and international efforts to address key cyber security issues.

6. How does the Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) Program work to protect submitted information?
   The PCII Program, established in response to the Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002 (CII Act), creates a new framework for protecting certain types of information. The PCII program enables members of the private sector to, for the first time, voluntarily submit confidential information regarding the nation's critical infrastructure to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the assurance that the information will be protected from public disclosure. More details about how information can be protected under the CII Act can be found on the Department of Homeland Security web site.

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