APCO speaker outlines potential PSAP cybersecurity strategies in heightened threat environment
As a member of the FCC’s Task Force on Optimal Public-Safety Answering Point Architecture (TFOPA), English and his working-group members have evaluated many proactive approaches to PSAP cybersecurity. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Initiative for Cybersecurity (NICE) offer the best cybersecurity roadmap and workforce training tools, respectively, for public-safety communications, he said.
In its final 80-page report, TFOPA included a checklist and suggested training for specific roles in communications centers to enhance cybersecurity at facilities across the country, English said.
Once those threats have been identified, systems have been better secured and personnel have been trained, PSAP directors and staff still greatly benefit from collaborating and sharing information with neighboring jurisdictions, fire, EMS and law enforcement to avoid duplicate threats. To emphasize that need for information sharing, English cited a predicament in Florida, where two neighboring PSAPS endured TDoS attacks, but were not aware of the shared attacks—likely initiated by the same culprit—for days.
“Every time a cyber incident occurs, you’re going to go through that process, you’re going to learn from it, and you’re going to build a better mousetrap and you’re going to be more prepared for the next one,” he shared. “You guys know your operations better than anyone else. Take your intelligence. Take the experience you have to come up with a plan to fight the bad guys, like you do every day.”