Broadcasters, wireless companies and alerting equipment manufacturers are concerned about the potential costs of increasing cybersecurity regulations on emergency alerting participants and the burden of potentially duplicated reporting requirements across multiple federal agencies, they told the FCC and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Monday at a public roundtable event on alerting cybersecurity. The event included local government public safety agencies, the FBI and cybersecurity companies and featured discussion of potential threats to alerting infrastructure and the need for transparency around cyberattacks alongside potential regulatory burdens. “WEA is a voluntary program,” said CCIA General Counsel Angela Simpson. “There is a straw that will break the proverbial camel’s back at some point.”
An online survey of how respondents received the Oct. 4 nationwide emergency alert test shows AM radio isn’t the most effective way to disseminate alerts, said CTA in a post on X Thursday. The survey -- done online by CTA over two days among 800 adults -- shows 92% of U.S. adults received the Oct. 4 emergency alert test via their smart phones, 5% heard it on FM radio and 1% on AM radio, CTA said. “Thrilled to unveil new @CTATech research that debunks the myth that #AMradio is the most effective emergency alerting system,” said the post from CTA Policy Affairs Manager India Herdman. CTA said the test shows Congress shouldn’t mandate inclusion of AM radios in automobiles. "Rather than rely on a survey following an EAS test made under ideal circumstances, one should look at the countless real-world examples of broadcast radio providing lifesaving information when all other communications networks -- including and especially wireless networks -- go down," said an NAB spokesperson. NAB has championed legislation requiring AM on the basis of its effectiveness at emergency alerting (see 2305260034. Wireless alerts during disasters often direct recipients to their local news outlets, which are often broadcasters, for emergency information, NAB said.
The three major wireless carriers told the FCC the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Oct. 4 wireless emergency alert had relatively few problems (see 2310040071), in filings posted Thursday in docket 15-91, though each reported some glitches. T-Mobile said repeatedly it had no difficulties receiving FEMA’s integrated public alert and warning system (IPAWS) alert. Test alert messages broadcast via LTE, UMTS and GSM “were transmitted 14.411 seconds after receipt from FEMA IPAWS due to mapping requirements imposed on these three broadcast technologies by the significantly larger database underlying T-Mobile’s nationwide coverage footprint,” the carrier said: “This represents an improvement of over 20 seconds from the 2021 test. Test Alert Messages broadcast via 5G were transmitted in under one (1) second.” T-Mobile also observed “an anomaly” for subscribers using some handsets running the Android R or newer operating system (OS). “Affected devices had the device language set to English but presented the alert in both English and Spanish,” T-Mobile said: “The anomaly was caused by an inadvertent overwrite of the logic in the device OS by the OS vendor, affecting National Alerts. T-Mobile is not aware of an instance in which this anomaly delayed or prevented receipt of the Test Alert Message.” Verizon said the system largely worked. Verizon had a delay of 1.663 seconds between the receipt of the test alert message from FEMA IPAWS and transmission to subscribers. “Verizon does not consider this a ‘delay,’ ‘complication,’ or ‘anomaly,’” it said: “The processing time between receipt of the alert and transmission to subscribers simply results from the large number of cell sites in our network, and the need for the two mated [cell broadcast entities] facilities to efficiently coordinate the delivery of both the English and Spanish language versions of the alert across all those sites.” Verizon also reported complaints and inquiries to its customer care channels that indicated “some cases where subscribers may not have received the alert due to the local RF propagation environment, or where the user’s device was operating in Wi-Fi mode only.” AT&T said some customers in Texas didn’t receive an alert, because of a fiber cut affecting 30 cellsites. “AT&T did not observe any instances of excessive delay in the network and does not consider the lapse of one second between the receipt of the alert from IPAWS and the transmission of the alert to subscribers as in any way delayed or abnormal,” it said. AT&T also said it surveyed more than 1,000 employees about their experience: More than 99.3% “received and reviewed the English version of the alert,” 85% “received and reviewed the alert within 1 minute or less. And 90% … received and reviewed the alert within 3 minutes or less.” AT&T also worked with a handset vendor in four states to test the alert on 77 handsets. “Of these, 100% of the devices received the English version of the alert and 97.4% of these devices received the test alert within 1 minute,” AT&T said. Also, 42 of the devices “were enabled to receive Spanish alerts and 100% of the devices received the alert in Spanish and 100% of these devices received the alert within [one] minute.”
The FCC released a public notice Thursday seeking partners to test alternative technologies for wireless emergency alerts when cell towers are disabled during disasters. “The Commission is seeking partners to examine the feasibility of using complementary technologies, such as satellite service, to address this public safety gap,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: “This initiative is the latest in our ongoing effort to strengthen the nation’s alerting systems, working closely with our government partners.” The Public Safety Bureau notice asks for responses by Dec. 18 in docket 22-160. “WEAs can provide immediate, life-saving information when a mobile device user is in harm’s way,” the notice said. “The utility of this critical tool, however, can be significantly reduced or eliminated when the infrastructure needed to deliver WEAs, such as cell towers, is damaged or disabled due to disaster circumstances.” The bureau said alternate possibilities include satellites, high-altitude platforms systems and drones. The bureau “seeks to partner with any entities that have a technology, method, or other solution for delivering a WEA to a mobile device when the device is not connected to a functioning cell tower.”
The FCC Public Safety Bureau and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency scheduled a public roundtable on emergency alert cybersecurity Oct. 30, said a release and public notice Monday. “It is critical that these essential systems function in emergencies and that the public can trust the warnings they receive,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in the release, which connected the event to the agency’s recent proceedings on improving emergency alerts. The roundtable will “build upon the record” of information gathered under the agency’s recent proceeding on emergency alert cyberattacks. The roundtable will include public and private sector representatives and include discussion of cybersecurity improvements in the alerting sphere, risk management frameworks, and incident reporting, the public notice said. “A more detailed agenda will be announced by subsequent Public Notice,” said the PN.
CTIA met with aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington on tweaks to the wireless emergency alert draft, after meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2310100056) A vote is set for Thursday. “In its comments and advocacy, CTIA has urged the Commission to focus on providing actionable information to consumers, while not disrupting the underlying and purpose-designed system architecture or otherwise impacting the system’s highly successful performance,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 15-91.
Extended 911 hold times and insufficient staffing continue to plague the District of Columbia’s Office of Unified Communications (OUC), said D.C. Council members at a virtual hearing Thursday. The Judiciary and Public Safety Committee sharply questioned OUC Director Heather McGaffin on recent problems and the agency’s compliance with recent emergency legislation meant to enhance accountability and transparency. The committee also considered a bill to expand upon and make permanent the emergency measure.
The nationwide tests of the wireless emergency alert and broadcast emergency alert system appeared to go relatively smoothly Wednesday, according to early reports and interviews with public safety officials. Though Federal Emergency Management Agency and FCC officials and the agencies’ press materials said Tuesday that both tests were taking place at 2:20 p.m. EDT, the WEA appeared to go out at 2:18 EDT, which was the time listed on the August FCC public notice announcing the tests.
The Federal Emergency Management Association and the FCC will test the emergency alert system and wireless emergency alerts at 2:20 p.m. EDT Wednesday (see 2308180037), the agencies said in a reminder release and background press call Tuesday. During the call, senior FCC and FEMA officials said they don’t expect audio issues with the test's broadcast portion. They also said the WEA test is expected to reach hundreds of millions of phones. “The purpose of the test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level,” said the release. The WEA test will be received by all WEA-compatible phones that are switched on and in range of a cell tower during the 30 minutes the test is active, said the FEMA official. The message will display in English or Spanish depending on the phone’s menu settings, and be accompanied by unique tones, the FEMA official said. Users who are concerned the tones could reveal the location of a concealed cellphone, such as domestic abuse victims, can avoid the message by keeping their phones off while the message is active, the FEMA official said. The EAS message will be delivered through the internet-based common alerting protocol system rather than solely through the broadcast-based “daisy-chain” of several previous EAS tests, and thus should have improved audio quality, FEMA and FCC officials said. Both messages clearly say they're tests, and that no action is necessary, the release said. On the press call, the senior FEMA official pushed back on rumors around the test, saying it won’t knock phones and smart TVs off the internet. On the X platform, formerly Twitter, posts claimed the test will be used to turn the vaccinated into zombies, or is planned to coincide with a Russian nuclear test. The nationwide tests use the same technology and systems as the more familiar and local tests, and the idea that they're in some way separate may contribute to misunderstandings around the tests, said the FEMA official. He said it's not clear if the test would have continued if the test date had fallen during an ongoing federal shutdown, as appeared likely last week.
The FCC’s Oct. 19 meeting is packed, with items on 6 GHz rules, Wi-Fi on school buses, wireless emergency alerts, video programming for the blind and visually impaired, maternal healthcare and other items. That's aside from the NPRM on net neutrality, which is expected to grab most of the attention (see 2309270056). The meeting will be the first with new Commissioner Anna Gomez and the first with a 3-2 Democratic majority during the Biden administration.