Congressional Homeland Security Committees' Chairmen Seek Answers on Wireless Cybersecurity Tech Guidance

wireless networks against cyberattacks, saying in letters to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson that the “conflicting information” hampers federal cybersecurity efforts. The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued an enforcement advisory Jan. 27 suggesting that a wireless local area network (WLAN) operator “violates federal law when using WIDS/WIPS to ‘block’ a wireless network access point that is being used to launch a cybersecurity attack against the operator’s network or its customers,” said Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, in the letters. The DHS National Cyber Security Division had issued WLAN guidance in 2011 that emphasized the importance of WIDS/WIPS and said their deployment “is critical to the WLAN security and operation, and therefore is required” by the guidance. Johnson and McCaul sought information on the extent to which the FCC coordinated with DHS and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in developing its Jan. 27 enforcement advisory. The chairmen also asked Wheeler and Johnson to indicate how consistent their WIDS/WIPS guidance is with other federal cybersecurity initiatives and the uses of WIDS/WIPS. DHS and the FCC must submit their responses by 5 p.m. July 2. The FCC is reviewing the letter, a spokeswoman said.