911 cybersecurity: Whose job is it?
911 cybersecurity: Whose job is it?
With this in mind, it is important to understand the things that make your organization unique, and it is equally important to understand the areas where your organization is vulnerable, Willingham said. And in the public-safety arena, “there are many things that are unique and hackers are looking for ways to inject themselves into the process,” he said.
“There are many different ways for them to attack—traditional trafficking, malware, physical attack,” Willingham said. “Telephony denial service is one of the biggest ways to attack PSAPs.”
In addition, modem attacks still exist, according to Willingham.
“When someone attacks your modem, they can shut down, alter, or worse, redirect communication,” he said
Another common way that systems are breached is by employees, or “insiders.” It is necessary that a company grants its employees a certain level of trust and access in order for them to do their jobs, but the company must also ensure that everyone understands security risks, Willingham said.
Some security breaches result from disgruntled employees who intentionally want to do harm, but even more incidents result from incompetence–most employees may know not to give out sensitive information such as passwords, but some may be fooled into disclosing such information, Willingham said. Another concern is that, in today's increasingly mobile society, people may cause system breaches when they connect their work mobile phones or tablets to public charging ports or their own home networks, he said.
To that end, the responsibility to keep networks secure does not fall to just a few individuals, but lies with everyone in any given organization, Willingham said.