(O4) IS AN OFFICIAL NATIONAL POINT OF CONTACT AND EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION (INCIDENTS, VULNERABILITY REPORTS, ETC.) WITHIN THE COUNTRY AND ABROAD WITH THE NATIONAL/GOVERNMENTAL CIRTs OF THE COUNTRIES IN THE REGION AND BEYOND. The function of an official national point of contact and information exchange with the institutions in the country, as well as abroad with the national/governmental CIRTs from countries in the region will be realised by initiating a membership or accession of the Republic of Macedonia and MKD-CIRT in international organisations. • Initiating accession of the Republic of Macedonia and MKD-CIRT, as the official national point, to the Global Cyberesecurity Agenda Initiative of the ITU/IMPACT coalition comprised of 152 countries. With the accession, MKD-CIRT will gain access to the basic service package offered via GCA by the ITU/IMPACT, including: - Access to the reporting and alerting system - Option to include local cybersecurity experts in the IMPACT community - Option to escalate the detected incidents to IMPACT for the purpose of analysis and coordination when handling said incidents - Option to send detected malicious code to IMPACT for analysis - Receive periodic notifications and news on information security - Cooperation in preparing and conducting cybersecurity exercises that will help strengthen the capacities of MKD-CIRT and its constituents, and simultaneously allow increased international recognition of MKD-CIRT • Inform ENISA on the establishment of MKD-CIRT as a national point for information exchange for the Republic of Macedonia. The European Network and Information Security Agency together with CERT-EU are the focal point for coordination and exchange of information between the national CIRTs in the Member States of the European Union. - Inform the national CIRTs in the Member States of the European Union on the establishment of MKD-CIRT as the official national point for information exchange and coordination of international activities with the Republic of Macedonia. - Initiate readiness to cooperate in preparing and conducting cybersecurity exercises that will help strengthen the capacities of MKD-CIRT and its constituents, and simultaneously allow increased international recognition of MKD-CIRT - Initiate a request for access to the resources provided by ENISA to other international CIRTs, such as notifications, best practices and working groups. • Initiate the process for accession to FIRST and gaining the status Affiliated Member. FIRST, as a forum CIRTs, offers assistance in the communication among the individual CIRTs by introducing them to each other, or by using the established infrastructure and systems for information sharing and collaboration. This cooperation has the primary objective to accelerate the process of handling security incidents. • Initiate the process of enrolment and accreditation of MKD-CIRT in TF-CSIRT Trusted Introducer, as an international organization providing services to CIRTs. The membership of MKD-CIRT will achieve the following: 13