On the occasion of submitting the official request for obtaining Accredited status from the international organization TERENA TF CSIRT, the Czech Ministry of the Interior and CESNET and CZ.NIC announce the handover of the CSIRT.CZ security team to security workers at the administrator of the Czech national domain – the CZ.NIC Association. This marks the completion of the process for putting the Czech National CSIRT Team into full operation.

As of today the agenda and know-how have been fully transferred from workers at the academic association CESNET, which up until now has shared in the full technical operation of the CSIRT.CZ team. The team had been working since 1 January 2011. The successful migration of all related systems supporting the function of the CSIRT.CZ team has occurred since the beginning of the year.

“The Ministry of the Interior – the coordinator of cyber security in the Czech Republic – and the CZ.NIC Association signed a memorandum in December 2010 to hand over the role of the Czech national CSIRT team to the CZ.NIC Association. The Ministry of the Interior carefully considered and prepared this measure with the conviction that the technical and personnel capacity of the CZ.NIC Association guarantee that this role will be competently fulfilled. I am very pleased that the smooth transfer of the CSIRT.CZ security team confirmed our conviction, and I am looking forward to further cooperation in increasing the level of Czech cyber security,” said Ing. Aleš Špidla, Director of the Department of Cybernetic and Information Security

“The process of handing over the CSIRT.CZ facility has been successfully completed in recent days, and CSIRT.CZ is now fully administered by the CZ.NIC Association. The employees of both associations worked closely together on the handover process, and I must acknowledge that the skills of workers on both sides ensured a smooth, uninterrupted transition, opening up the possibility of additional successful development and cooperation. I am pleased that through its participation in the “Cybernetic Threats” project and in the building of the CSIRT.CZ facility, which the Ministry of the Interior declared the Czech national CSIRT in December 2010, CESNET contributed to the development of a more secure Internet in the Czech Republic. The operation of this facility was entrusted to the CZ.NIC Association, the organization best equipped for its further successful development,” added CESNET Director Jan Gruntorád.

“I would like to thank all the members of the original CESNET team who devoted great efforts in this process and who conscientiously introduced the activities of CSIRT.CZ. The handover of this entire project now allows our security team members to work on other activities. We are primarily interested in spending more time in informing the public about Internet security and preventative measures for this purpose,” explained Ondřej Filip, Executive Director of the CZ.NIC Association.