Its main goal is to provide Internet users with technical assistance and warnings to help them avoid and respond to security incidents. Second, the CERT site provides warnings and solutions for computer viruses. Joining the site's mailing list is a simple process. The less technical CIAC site was designed to provide computer security services to employees and contractors of the U.S. Department of Energy. Its resources, however, can be shared by all Internet users.
Bulletins provide the latest information on computer security issues.
Hoaxes, for which no software solutions are required, have become a growing problem in cyberspace. The letter claimed that the Federal Communications Commission had issued an advisory that the Good Times message would download a virus that would destroy the user's hard disk. When CIAC staff contacted the FCC to confirm this information, they learned that the letter itself was a hoax and that the FCC did not issue warnings regarding computer software. The CIAC site will often contain background information on how a particular hoax was started, and what research was done to confirm that the message was untrue. On-Line A growing number of government agencies are now using the Web as a way to get information to the masses as cheaply as possible.