Emergency alert system officials are conflicted about the possibilities of giving electronic messaging and social media an increased role in emergency alerting, according to panelists at an FCC EAS workshop Thursday. There are ways to use multimedia to get information to the public and get information from the public, said Jay English, APCO director-communications center and 911 service. Combining EAS and wireless messages and social media makes Maine Association of Broadcasters CEO Suzanne Goucher “very nervous,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of serious top-level questions” to answer before such changes are implemented, Goucher said.
A day after AT&T announced an expanded partnership with Voxx (see 1508250057) for a subscription-based two-way vehicle protection service, Verizon Telematics revealed availability of its own aftermarket version, now called "Verizon hum." Verizon unveiled hum under the name Verizon Vehicle at the North American International Auto Show in January as a self-installable service delivering diagnostic information and “peace of mind.”
There are benefits and challenges to using telecom technology to establish the California Earthquake Early Warning System (EEWS), said speakers from AT&T and Qualcomm and members of the California Office of Emergency Services, on an Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) webinar Tuesday. Speakers said EEWS can use the commercial cellular network to ensure the public receives early notice before a seismic event. EEWS is meant to complement California's current earthquake sensing and alert system, the California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN), and will use mobile communications to send mass alerts to personal mobile devices.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs and Public Safety bureaus' joint workshop Aug. 27 on promoting wider accessibility and increased use of the emergency alert system (EAS) (see 1508040030) will have three sessions, hear from Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson, and include state and local officials, the FCC said in a public notice. The workshop will include a panel on ways to improve alert accessibility, such as synchronizing EAS audio and visual crawls, with Christian Vogler, director of Gallaudet University's Technology Access Program; Lillian McDonald, managing director of Twin Cities Public Television/Echo Minnesota Partnership; Charles McCobb, a program manager of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS); and Zainab Alkebsi, policy counsel at the National Association of the Deaf. A panel on promoting EAS use will be Jay English, APCO director-Comm Center & 9-1-1 services; Wade Witmer, IPAWS deputy director; Steve Souder, director of Fairfax County, Virginia's Department of Public Safety Communications; and Suzanne Goucher, Maine Association of Broadcasters CEO. The 1 to 4:30 p.m. workshop will be in the commission meeting room and streamed live at the FCC website. To register: John Evanoff, Public Safety Bureau attorney, at john.evanoff@fcc.gov or 202-418-0848.
Adobe released a security update to address a vulnerability that may allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from an affected system, said an alert from the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team Tuesday. The security updates are for LiveCycle Data Services versions 4.7, 4.6.2, 4.5 and 3.0x, the alert said. Microsoft also released a critical security update to address a vulnerability in Internet Explorer, said a U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team alert Wednesday. Exploitation of the vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to take control of an affected system if the user viewed a specially crafted webpage, it said.
LAS VEGAS -- Executives at two companies at opposite IoT ends viewed companies’ liability in the connected home in starkly different ways during a panel at the IoT Evolution Expo Tuesday. The disparity underscored some of the vulnerability and confusion in the nascent market that were cited multiple times during panels on the smart home at the conference.
Seattle selected Rave Mobile Safety's Alert Emergency Notification System as its emergency mass notification system, said a news release from the company. AlertSeattle lets residents and city employees receive important emergency and community updates, by email, text, voice call, and on social media, the firm said. The tight integration between AlertSeattle and King County's Smart911 system allows residents to opt to provide critical information they wish to make available to responders in the event of a 911 call, it said.
Broadcasters and legislators are waiting to see if the FCC will act on recent commitments to step up enforcement against pirate radio stations, according to interviews and an exchange of letters between Chairman Tom Wheeler and 33 House members. In Wheeler's letter to the legislators and in a June roundtable with broadcasters, the FCC identified some actions to turn up the heat on unlicensed broadcasters, but it's unclear if the agency will take the simple step that broadcasters want most, said New York Broadcasters Association President David Donovan.
Even as comment deadlines on emergency alert system rules were set Monday, the FCC had already received some filings from EAS stakeholders. Comments on proposed changes are due Sept. 9, replies Sept. 24, in docket 04-296, the Public Safety Bureau said in Monday's Federal Register. The proposed rule changes follow a request by the National Weather Service that the FCC add three EAS event codes for extreme wind and storm surges, and that it revise the territorial boundaries of geographic location codes 75 and 77, which are offshore marine areas.
Passwords stored in Microsoft’s Group Policy Preferences may be insecurely stored due to incomplete implementations of Microsoft Security Bulletin MS14-025, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team said in an alert Friday. U.S.-CERT said that if administrators haven’t cleared previously stored passwords, the system may be vulnerable to exploitation. Attackers “may decrypt these passwords and use them to gain escalated privileges,” the alert said. U.S.-CERT recommends administrators employ the PowerShell script provided in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2962486 and follow the instructions to clear all “CPassword” preferences.