Not enough is being done to secure America from cyberthreats to its critical infrastructure and economy, current and former Department of Homeland Security officials and lawmakers said Wednesday at a House Homeland Cybersecurity Subcommittee hearing. “Maintaining the status quo will not be enough to keep America secure,” said Ranking Member Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y. “In our rush to network everything, few stopped to consider the security ramifications of this new world we are creating, and so we find ourselves in an extremely dangerous situation,” she said.
The Emergency Response Interoperability Center Public Safety Advisory Committee will set up four working groups, Deputy Chief Eddie Reyes said Tuesday at the committee’s first meeting. The chairs will be CTO Jacqueline Miller of New Mexico’s Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, on interoperability; CTO Bill Scheier of the city of Seattle, on applications and user requirrments; Dennis Martinez, a vice president with Harris Corp., on security and authentication; and Kenneth Budka, an Alcatel-Lucent senior director, on network evolution. The interoperability working group will identify rules and policies to ensure that the national public safety network is interoperable with other public safety networks and point out best practices to ensure interoperability, said committee Chair Jeff Johnson, CEO of the Western Fire Chiefs Association. The applications and user requirements group will identify user applications that need to be supported to ensure interoperability, as well as an approach to ensure that the policy framework for the public safety network stays current, he said. The security group will identify security and authentication features required to ensure interoperability and best practices to ensure security, Johnson said. The network evolution group will take up questions such as how to develop equipment for innovation, he said. Each group will draft recommendations for the committee to vote on, Johnson said.
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) wrapped up its work Monday, approving a report recommending a blue ribbon panel to consider how to pay for upgrading 911. CSRIC also approved a report making 397 recommendations for cybersecurity best practices.
TORONTO -- The two largest cable operators, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, appear to be taking somewhat divergent paths on an ambitious next-generation architecture for the cable industry, frustrating the original goals of network designers, aggravating equipment vendors, and potentially driving up equipment production costs, officials said at the SCTE Canadian Summit.
TORONTO -- The two largest cable operators, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, appear to be taking somewhat divergent paths on an ambitious next-generation architecture for the cable industry, frustrating the original goals of network designers, aggravating equipment vendors, and potentially driving up equipment production costs, officials said at the SCTE Canadian Summit.
March 14 FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council meeting, 9 a.m., Commission Meeting Room -- 202-418-1096
The FCC should delay an incentive auction of TV spectrum for at least a decade to give broadcasters time to start using a more efficient signal modulation standard, a midsize broadcaster’s CEO said Friday. Jim Goodmon of Capitol Broadcasting, known as a maverick for pushing technology and other changes before broadcasters do, told us he thinks that the industry can soon agree to use OFDM to replace the AVS-B standard used for digital broadcasts.
The FCC should delay an incentive auction of TV spectrum for at least a decade to give broadcasters time to start using a more efficient signal modulation standard, a midsize broadcaster’s CEO said Friday. Jim Goodmon of Capitol Broadcasting, known as a maverick for pushing technology and other changes before broadcasters do, told us he thinks that the industry can soon agree to use OFDM to replace the 8-VSB standard used for digital broadcasts.
The President has issued a message to Congress stating that he has determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared with respect to Iran and maintain in force comprehensive sanctions against Iran to respond to this threat. Therefore, the national emergency with respect to Iran that was declared on March 15, 1995, is to continue in effect beyond March 15, 2011.
The following are trade-related highlights of the Executive Communications sent to Congress from February 11 to March 4, 2011: