EGC group

EGC is based on common interests The European Government CERTs group was established in November 2001. European Government CERTs with similar constituencies and day-to-day problems, coupled with the need for trusted CERT partners at a government level, provided the essential motivation for establishing the group.

The primary objective of EGC is to create added value for member organisations and their constituencies by developing efficient and effective cooperation between the teams with a focus on incident and vulnerability management. This involves:

• developing agreed measures to deal with large-scale or regional network security incidents,
• facilitating information sharing and technology exchange,
• sharing specialist knowledge and expertise,
• sharing standards and best practices,
• collaborative research and development on subjects of mutual interest.

Primarily, EGC is an operational group with a technical focus. It does not determine policy, which is the responsibility of other agencies within their individual countries.

The success of EGC depends on trusted communications, cooperation and information sharing. It is facilitated by regular meetings between the various team representatives, the use of a closed group mailing list as well as video and telephone conference calls. Bilateral and multilateral activities on specific tasks or projects constitute other aspects of this multi-faceted cooperation.

To facilitate and support this trusted cooperation, a joint "Agreement on Scope" has been approved by all member organisations.