{"id":389,"date":"2024-09-09T08:22:27","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T13:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ause1wordpress01.aws.mot-solutions.com\/en_us\/?p=389"},"modified":"2024-10-08T12:01:35","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T17:01:35","slug":"9-1-1-centers-and-cyber-resiliency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog-test.motorolasolutions.com\/en_us\/9-1-1-centers-and-cyber-resiliency\/","title":{"rendered":"9-1-1 Centers and Cyber Resiliency"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"9-1-1month\"April is 9-1-1 Education Month<\/em>. Throughout the month this blog series will highlight different aspects of the emergency response process, including what happens when you text<\/a> or call 9-1-1, and will pay tribute to the men and women behind the phones<\/a>. This April, take some time to learn something new about America\u2019s emergency response system.<\/em><\/p>\n

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In February, the Department of Homeland Security warned<\/a> that cyber attacks against law enforcement, fire departments and other emergency services have gone from being rare to commonplace and are likely to become more frequent over time. As I reflect on the 13 years I’ve worked at the Mason-Oceana 9-1-1, I remember that in the early days, there were almost no connections from our facility to the outside. Fast forward to today, our 9-1-1 center has become a central communications hub. It is interconnected to scores of agencies, servers with vital information, as well as computers and devices being used in the field.<\/p>\n

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Protecting our front line<\/strong>
\nWith April being National 9-1-1 Education Month, there\u2019s no better time to discuss the topic of cybersecurity. Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and 9-1-1 centers are just as vulnerable to cyber intrusion as any other business or government entity. A 2015 study by the Aspen Institute noted that 48% of CIOs and CSOs responsible for critical infrastructure believe that a cyber attack may result in a potential loss of life<\/a>. The nation’s 9-1-1 centers are part of the emergency services sector of our critical infrastructure. Having a standard firewall is no longer adequate to address the vulnerabilities that exist. America\u2019s 5,899 primary and secondary PSAPs<\/a> who answer an estimated 240 million calls\/year cannot afford a cyber intrusion when lives are literally on the line.<\/p>\n

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Becoming cyber resilient <\/strong>
\nWith the evolving cyber threats, it\u2019s critical that government officials, security experts and those responsible for keeping the nation’s PSAPs operational understand their risk posture and readiness to address a cyber attack. I fall into this category. Last fall, I worked with Motorola\u2019s cybersecurity services professionals<\/a> to conduct a risk assessment for the Mason-Oceana 9-1-1 Center. The comprehensive evaluation gave us a baseline of where we stood and provided a roadmap to becoming cyber resilient. Some of the findings were straightforward; others were eye-opening; and some will require more due diligence to implement:<\/p>\n

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