Could cybersecurity issues undermine migration efforts to IP-based solutions?

Internet Protocol (IP) has driven changes in the communication industry in a manner unlike any other technology in the history of the sector. From the Internet to commercial wireless to land mobile radio (LMR), IP has allowed even advanced communications to be available to the masses.

Combined with Moore’s Law for computing and other technological advances, the adoption of IP-based solutions has resulted in greater availability and more functionality in communications, all while prices continue to drop. Meanwhile, the IP ecosystem has matured rapidly, and significant innovations seem to occur multiple times per year.

Properly designed IP-based systems can be more resilient that circuit-switched solutions, while allowing remote-monitoring capabilities and levels of interoperability that would have been unthinkable a couple of decades ago. Given this, it is no wonder that IP-based platforms are at the core of next-generation systems, from smart grids to smart cities to public-safety initiatives such as public-safety LTE or next-generation 911.

Communications historically has been an industry focused on tradeoffs, but IP’s better-faster-cheaper mantra seemed immune to normal truisms. No matter what problem was identified, the massive IP ecosystem would work on it, and a solution seemed to be in the marketplace within two years or less.

But the interconnected nature of IP-based solutions—the feature that makes them so valuable, because data from multiple sources can be gathered quickly and leveraged to make informed decisions—is the very characteristic that is being exploited to create a problem for IP-based systems, and it’s a whopper: cybersecurity.

No one seems to be able to solve the cybersecurity puzzle. Reports of data breaches, denial-of-service attacks and malware hacks seem to be in the news on a weekly basis, and the victimized enterprises seem to be in every kind of enterprise, in both the private and public sectors. Meanwhile, experts repeatedly tell us that those entities that have not been in these reports likely have been hacked—they just haven’t realized it yet or have taken steps to conceal the information.

Now, older communications systems are not immune to security problems; the number of cloned radios found on public-safety LMR networks is evidence that issues exist.

But even if someone deems private LMR networks to be technically less secure than IP-based systems, the siloed nature of the LMR networks—the characteristic that hampers interoperability—makes them much less desirable targets. The resale market for the information is limited, and many LMR networks require some sort of physical presence—a device or person—within the coverage territory, which requires a certain amount of effort that may be more trouble than it’s worth for a hacker.

In contrast, IP-based systems are much more likely to be targeted by a guy in Russia sitting in front of a computer screen. This is particularly true of high-profile IP-based systems, such as those run by the U.S. Department of Defense or a federal intelligence agency. Information from such sources is very valuable.

FirstNet hopes to have its public-safety broadband network operational within the next couple of year, and everyone is very aware that the system will be a prime target for hackers, given all of the very sensitive data that it will carry for first-responder agencies.