FAQ-Membership

Any CSIRT or CERT in the Asia Pacific region, who is interested in furthering the objectives of APCERT.
(Please refer to Member Teams.) A prospective member must obtain a sponsor among the existing APCERT members who support their application.

APCERT has two levels of membership: "Full Member" and "General Member". An applicant must join as an APCERT GENERAL Member first. Later, a General Member can upgrade to a FULL Member status.

General Members are any CSIRTs or CERTs in the Asia Pacific region with an interest in incident response and IT security. General Members do not have the right to vote nor have the right to stand for election to the Steering Committee. Full Members are CSIRTs/CERTs established in the region and have the right to vote on APCERT issues and to stand for election to the Steering Committee. All Founding Members are Full Members.

Applicants must provide Incident Response/Coordination or Security Research as part of their activities within the Asia Pacific region.

Yes. After applicants obtain a General Member status, they can apply to upgrade their membership to FULL Membership.

Any existing APCERT member can become a sponsor for a prospective General Member or Full Member. A sponsor is requested to submit a "Membership Application Check List". The responsibility of a sponsor includes the following:

• To fill and submit a Membership Application Check List, and
• To be a mentor to a prospective member especially during the first year.

Please refer to the "Membership Application Process" document.

For General Membership,

1. "APCERT Membership Application Form" (by an applicant)
2. "Membership Application Check List" (by a sponsor)

For Full Membership,

1. "Application to Upgrade a Membership Status" (by an applicant)
2. "Membership Application Check List" (by a sponsor)

A General Member can,

1. Participate in APCERT General Meetings (GM) and join the discussions, and influence the decision making process of APCERT activities and business related matters, and
2. Exchange security related information with other members.

A Full Member can,

1. Participate in APCERT General Meetings (GM) and join the discussions, and decision making process of APCERT activities and business related matters,
2. Exchange security related information with other members,
3. Vote on APCERT issues, including an election for Steering Committee members, and
4. Stand for election of Steering Committee members.

APCERT Steering Committee members will discuss the application and make decisions on a case by case basis according to pre-set criteria. The decision is made by voting.

List of General Members
List of Full Members

An unlimited number for both General Membership and Full Membership. However, among Full Members, one Point of Contact (PoC) is allowed per economy. The PoC is the party who is responsible for disseminating and coordinating incident handling within its economy.

The members are required to maintain confidentiality of the information shared with other members. In addition, the members are expected to actively share information with other APCERT members, respond to queries in a timely manner, and participate in APCERT activities.

This person will have a number of roles:

1. Prior to the team being accepted as an APCERT General or Full member:
• responsible for providing information to the sponsor and the APCERT secretariat when required during the membership application process.
2. Once your team becomes an APCERT member, your responsibilities will include:
• keeping your teams contact information up to date and notify other teams of any changes
• representing your team during APCERT meetings
• ensuring that confidential information posted to APCERT mailing lists are kept confidential within your organization