The Federal Communications Commission recently voted to approve a notice of proposed rulemaking that seeks to enhance the cybersecurity of the nation’s public warning system, by requiring, in part, that operators of the emergency alert system—or EAS—report any breaches of their equipment to the agency within 72 hours.
The proposal, which the FCC passed in a 4-0 vote on Oct. 27, would require that participants in the system “report any incident of unauthorized access of its EAS equipment” to the commission within three days of “when it knew or should have known that an incident has occurred.” EAS participants would be required to notify the agency within that timeframe and provide information concerning the breach, regardless of whether or not “that compromise has resulted in the transmission of a false alert.”
The EAS and wireless emergency alert—or WEA—systems are used to communicate emergency information to the public, often in response to severe weather, disasters or missing children. The alerts—which are issued by local, state and federal authorities—are delivered through radio broadcasts, television and mobile text messages.
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