CSRIC Gets First Updates With Work Just Getting Started
The FCC’s newly rechartered Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council got an update Thursday on how to make 911 more resilient. That topic, taken on by its Next Generation 911 (NG911) Working Group, was identified as a top priority in the new group’s initial meeting in June (see 1706230049). CSRIC VI got only updates since work is just starting on reports and recommendations.
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CSRIC has a limited agenda under Chairman Ajit Pai, with only three working groups; V had eight such groups. But Pai stopped by the June meeting to assure members the FCC values their work. Cybersecurity, a council focus under former Chairman Tom Wheeler, is mostly off the current agenda.
Lisa Fowlkes, chief of the Public Safety Bureau, opened the meeting saying CSRIC’s work is critical. “The recent series of hurricanes and wildfires in California are yet another reminder of the importance of reliable, robust and secure communications,” Fowlkes said. “You are each addressing vital topics.”
The NG-911 group is looking at actions the private sector​ could take to identify and address threats before they reach emergency services IP networks (ESInets), said Mary Boyd of West Safety Services, chair of the working group. The focus will be on “identifying tools that already are available or that are not burdensome to implement, and on also developing a set of best practices for carriers and 911 service providers,” Boyd said. A second focus of the working group is on the economic limitations small carriers face in moving to NG-911, Boyd said. CSRIC’s work on the issue is timely, she said. The working group also is developing a checklist for small carriers to use as they migrate to NG-911, she said.
The council got an update from its Network Reliability and Security Risk Reduction Working Group from Chair Travis Russell of Oracle. “We’re going to be looking at current threats that we have seen within not just the U.S., but global threats, as they might apply and be relevant,” Russell said. The group will recommend “best practices” on how to better secure the nation's networks against threats, he said. A previous council tackled threats to 3G networks, he said. Six will look at 4G, 5G and the IoT, he said.
Members got a brief update from the Comprehensive Re-imagining of Emergency Alerting Working Group. The group started meeting in September and is still getting briefings on the current landscape, said Chair Farrokh Khatibi of Qualcomm.
Member Budge Currier, from the California Office of Emergency Services, said he hopes the alerting group focuses on problems of the deaf and hard of hearing. “We learned in the recent California wildfire incident that that was a particular need,” he said. “I’ll make sure that we have that in our agenda ... and I will make sure that that discussion happens,” Khatibi said. CSRIC next meets Dec. 1. The first two reports are due in March.