These pages are now frozen, please check the new TRANSITS web pages for up to date information. (14/8/06)

Introduction

TRANSITS has been a European project (July 2002 - September 2005) to promote the establishment of Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) and the enhancement of existing CSIRTs by addressing the problem of the shortage of skilled CSIRT staff. This goal has been addressed by providing specialist training courses to train staff of (new) CSIRTs in the organisational, operational, technical, market and legal issues involved in providing CSIRT services.

TRANSITS was organised by two partners, TERENA and UKERNA, and was supported by the European Commission with a sum of 250,000 euro as an Accompanying Measure in the European Union's Information Society Technologies Programme.

Objectives

Increasing the proportion of European networks that have Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) services is a major part of improving the dependability of networks and promoting public confidence in them. The objective of the TRANSITS project has been to promote the creation of more, professional CSIRTs and the strengthening of existing CSIRTs.

Operating a CSIRT takes rare and specialist skills; currently there are only a few hundred experts in Europe who have the necessary knowledge and experience. The TRANSITS project has addressed this problem by providing specialist training to staff members of new CSIRTs and new staff members of existing CSIRTs.

Work Packages

Course materials have been developed and maintained. Before the start of the TRANSITS project course materials had already been prepared, but these have been edited, maintained and updated during the lifetime of the project. At intervals during the project, reviews were held to reflect comments from trainees and teachers as well as changes in the external environment.

During the lifetime of the project the course materials have been presented seven times, and the locations of these seven training workshops were spread over various regions in Europe. Each presentation of the course required logistical support: identifying a suitable location, advertising the course and selecting the trainees, arranging financial support for teachers and trainees if needed, and arranging accommodation.

The seven actual presentations of the course were done partly by staff of the project partners and partly by experienced staff members of CSIRTs who had committed themselves for these tasks. Each training workshop was rounded off with a report on the workshop, its preparations, its contents and the experiences of the presenters and the trainees.

A separate work package covered the overall management of the project: ensuring that milestones were met, quality assurance and reporting. Also the project's dissemination activities were part of this work package.

The course materials have been put in the public domain. Through copyright ownership it will be ensured that a wide distribution of the material is not obstructed by monopolisation of information or commercial exploitation by certain parties. The project partners have taken responsibility for creating a suitable permanent framework after the completion of the project for delivering further training courses and regularly updating the material.