July 31, 2025—The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) recently announced the induction of Richard D. Pethia into its prestigious Incident Response Hall of Fame at the global cybersecurity conference FIRSTCON25, held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In the aftermath of the Morris Worm attack, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) asked the SEI to establish an incident response capability. In 1988 Pethia founded the CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC) as the first computer emergency response team. The center played a vital role in establishing computer security incident response teams (CSIRTs) in countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and Qatar, among others. The CERT/CC also partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to stand up US-CERT, now part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The CERT/CC became a founding member of FIRST, the premier organization for incident response teams. Pethia’s influence during the forum’s early days helped embed core principles into the FIRST CSIRT Services Framework, a lasting contribution that continues to guide teams globally.

Under Pethia’s leadership, the CERT/CC expanded its work beyond incident response into areas such as malware analysis, insider threat, risk and resilience management, and vulnerability research. While the CERT/CC continued leading software vulnerability response coordination, it grew into the SEI’s CERT Division, which leads collaborative and innovative evidence-based research to fortify the cyber ecosystem and protect national security and prosperity. Pethia directed the CERT Division until 2016.

The SEI acknowledged Pethia’s vision and leadership in 2003 by awarding him the position of SEI Fellow, which recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the work of the SEI.

Current CERT Division director and former U.S. federal CISO Greg Touhill supported Pethia’s nomination for the FIRST Incident Response Hall of Fame. “Countless people and organizations, including myself, have benefited from Rich Pethia’s leadership, technical acumen, and strategic vision. He did not just create the world’s first CERT, he arguably launched the entire cyber incident response discipline. Few people have had such a profound, positive effect on making the world a safer place,” Touhill noted.

During the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, FIRST’s executive director Chris Gibson remarked, “Rich’s vision is woven into the DNA of FIRST. His belief in collaboration, transparency, and capacity building helped turn a technical response team into a global movement. The network of CSIRTs we see today is a direct result of the path he carved.”

“I am deeply honored to be recognized by FIRST and included among so many respected incident response leaders,” said Pethia in comments to FIRST. “Creating the CERT Coordination Center was never about building a single team, it was about sparking a global community. Seeing how far that community has come is the greatest reward of all.”