Coordinating cybersecurity efforts between 911 and FirstNet promises to be critical for public safety
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- Coordinating cybersecurity efforts between 911 and FirstNet promises to be critical for public safety
- Coordinating cybersecurity efforts between 911 and FirstNet promises to be critical for public safety
- Coordinating cybersecurity efforts between 911 and FirstNet promises to be critical for public safety
Coordinating cybersecurity efforts between 911 and FirstNet promises to be critical for public safety
Meanwhile, there’s a good chance that there will be a lively debate about the best way to implement the cybersecurity policies. Some will advocate for a more local 911 implementation, while others will advocate for a regional approach. It may make sense to have the geographic approach on the 911 side align with the approach taken by FirstNet and its contractor.
Some may even suggest that the same cybersecurity team should handle both the 911 and FirstNet efforts, to ensure coordination and consistent implementation. But such a proposal likely would raise some concerns that it would not provide the appropriate checks and balances needed, not to mention some legal questions about the scope of FirstNet’s mandate and its legal jurisdiction.
But no matter what approach is chosen ultimately, the reality is that public safety’s migration to IP-based FirstNet and NG911 platforms will mean that these sensitive systems promise to be high-priority targets to a host of malicious hackers around the world. Devising a system that ensures secure communications between 911 and FirstNet users in the field is key to its effectiveness and public-safety adoption.
There also will have to be similar discussions about the interfaces these systems will have with other critical-infrastructure IT networks, which could supply information crucial to an emergency response. In addition, interfacing with commercial and consumer-grade Internet of Things (IoT) systems will be desired, because they also could provide valuable information (although the lack of IoT security is pretty scary).
But the first priority must be to ensure that information being exchanged between 911 centers and FirstNet operate as efficiently and securely as possible, because they are inherently interdependent. Without this, the vision of next-generation public-safety communications cannot be realized.