The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule, effective Sept. 19, to amend the Export Administration Regulations by adding two persons from Pakistan to the Entity List and modifying one existing entity from the United Arab Emirates. The rule also corrects citations in part 744 of the EAR to reflect the most recent Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Weapons of Mass Destruction, issued Nov. 1. The persons being added to the Entity List have been determined by the U.S. government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the U.S. Persons can include companies or individuals.
"Honeypots” -- computing resources that act as “digital traps” to lure cyberattackers -- are a great way for computer emergency readiness teams (CERTs) to gain threat intelligence without affecting production infrastructure, but they face significant technical, legal and ethical barriers, said the European Network and Information Security Agency in a report on proactive detection of security incidents. It reviewed 30 existing honeypot and related technologies, focusing on open-source solutions, to advise CERTs which are best for deployment and use. Despite the various issues the technologies raise, CERTs should explore their use, the agency said. Meanwhile, the European Commission said it’s funding several projects aimed at addressing major cybersecurity issues.
The Department of Homeland Security released an informational toolkit on FirstNet late last week. The variety of resources is intended for the Office of Emergency Communications’ stakeholders, DHS said, describing it as the product of a working group of federal, state and local stakeholders first established in the spring (http://xrl.us/bn27hs). The Broadband Outreach Toolkit consists of four documents: separate FAQs for policymakers, technical personnel, and operational personnel, as well as a two-page primer called “Realizing the Future of Public Safety Communications.” The National Association of Telecom Officers and Advisors spotlighted the toolkit Wednesday and directed questions to its Public Safety/Homeland Security Committee Chair Barry Fraser (http://xrl.us/bn27h2). The primer documents detail some debated elements of FirstNet, such as the difference between public safety and commercial networks: “Public safety networks require higher degrees of robustness, resiliency, redundancy, and security than commonly found in commercial networks,” the policymakers FAQ said. “While current commercial solutions are used to augment public safety networks by providing non-mission critical services, many commercial mobile data solutions are not interoperable with public safety data systems.” The FAQs acknowledge many unknowns to its questions, such as when the network will be deployed or what standards of hardening will apply.
The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices for Nov. 26 (Note that some may also be given separate headlines.)
The FCC will hold field hearings to scrutinize communications resiliency in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, Chairman Julius Genachowski announced. The storm hit the East Coast starting Oct. 29 and knocked out a quarter of the cell sites in affected areas, with outages lingering long after. The hearings will begin in early 2013, starting in New York, and focus on access to 911, how resources are shared, emergency permitting and dependency on electric power and fuel, the FCC said. The agency will look at wired and wireless resiliency and produce recommendations for a stronger network, it said. Questions of new technology and jurisdictional tension remain concerns, officials told us.
The Bureau of Industry and Security announced a partially open meeting of the Emerging Technology and Research Advisory Committee (ETRAC) Dec. 12-13. At the open session Dec. 13 at 8:30 a.m. ET, the ETRAC will hear an overview on export controls for new members, and discuss the 521 ECCNs (not elsewhere listed on the Commerce Control List), 3D bio-printing, a National Academy of the Sciences nanotech initiative, a rare earths study, and additive manufacturing. The open session will be accessible via teleconference to 40 participants on a first come, first served basis. To participate, submit inquiries to Yvette Springer at Yvette.Springer@bis.doc.gov, no later than Dec. 5.
A spokeswoman for Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to delay his planned Nov. 29 markup of a bill aimed at updating the 26-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). “Judging by the concerns on both sides of the issue, it may be time to take a step back, hold additional hearings to address concerns, and discuss the issues being raised instead of rewriting the bill behind closed doors,” the Grassley spokeswoman said in an email Tuesday. The comment followed a report from CNET which said Leahy was revising the bill to permit more than 22 agencies to access American’s emails and social networking content without a search warrant.
A spokeswoman for Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to delay his planned Nov. 29 markup of a bill aimed at updating the 26-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). “Judging by the concerns on both sides of the issue, it may be time to take a step back, hold additional hearings to address concerns, and discuss the issues being raised instead of rewriting the bill behind closed doors,” the Grassley spokeswoman said in an email Tuesday. The comment followed a report from CNET which said Leahy was revising the bill to permit more than 22 agencies to access American’s emails and social networking content without a search warrant.
Tribune said it expects to complete its exit from bankruptcy within weeks, now that the FCC approved the transfer of its TV station licenses, gave it a permanent waiver of its newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban in Chicago and issued temporary waivers in New York, Los Angeles, South Florida and Hartford, Conn. “This decision will enable the company to continue moving forward toward emergence from Chapter 11, CEO Eddy Hartenstein said in a news release Friday. As expected (CD Nov 15 p1), the Media Bureau gave Tribune permission to transfer its broadcast and earth-station licenses to the reorganized Tribune. In doing so, the bureau also rejected petitions to deny the Tribune applications from labor unions, Free Press, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, United Church of Christ and others.
The National Emergency Number Association launched a new 911 center registration website Thursday, it said (http://xrl.us/bnzto3). The new database will come with “increased functionality and improved performance” and is the result of a partnership with Digital Data Technologies, NENA said. The new website comes with better search functions, easier login, “streamlined” registration, status updates on any 911 center change requests and automated password resets, it said. Users of the registry system will be sent a prompt requesting the creation of a new username and password Thursday, it said.