A Three-Pronged Strategy for Integrating Data into Public Safety Operations

A recent blog examined the need for public safety and justice agencies to integrate data into their daily operations. This integration has two distinct but interrelated elements—data gathering/exchange and data leveraging. Data needs to be captured effectively and efficiently, and then flow seamlessly between agencies, departments and their field personnel, and between disparate networks and systems. The data needs to be actionable so that it can inform the decision-making process and be made available to any authorized user whenever they need it.

2020—Year in Review

The year 2020 was fraught with challenges, most notably those generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Public safety and justice agencies from coast to coast were forced to implement, virtually overnight, new operational strategies that became necessary because employees were unable to work in their brick-and-mortar facilities, either due to illness or various shelter-in-place orders. In some cases, agencies had to rapidly execute protective measures for those employees who could arrive at work, driven by social-distancing mandates.

Here’s What Mission-Critical Agencies Should Do About the SolarWinds Breach

Last week a serious cybersecurity breach concerning SolarWinds’ Orion network- and remote-monitoring platform was revealed. Orion has been implemented by a great many organizations, including the White House, the Pentagon, the U.S Department of energy and many other government agencies and technology companies. 

This cyberattack was particularly clever, in that the perpetrators designed the malware to look like Orion software files with a signed certificate. When the user deployed what he or she thought was a legitimate update, the malware was distributed. The traffic looked exactly like Orion traffic, so there were no red flags; consequently, it was easy to overlook the breach, which is why it was so widely distributed. Learn more about how this breach can impact public safety agencies by registering for MCP's cyber briefing today at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Leading by Example—T-Mobile Steps Up for Public Safety

This year was plagued by much hardship and sorrow, yet heartwarming stories and demonstrations of great leadership abound. From the heroic frontline workers battling the coronavirus to the pharmaceutical companies’ development of life-changing vaccines in record time, leaders are rising to the challenges. Similarly, the public safety community has had its fair share of challenges in 2020, especially those related to implementing Next Generation 911 and its life-saving capabilities, but now, as we wind down the year, an unsuspecting leader in public safety has emerged—T‑Mobile.

Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: SolarWinds Orion Backdoor

As part of our effort to inform our clients about potential and serious cybersecurity issues, MCP provides advisories about vulnerabilities and exploits that could threaten the operations of their critical communications networks. Sign up to receive these advisories in your inbox as soon as they are released.

Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: Egregor Ransomware

As part of our effort to inform our clients about potential and serious cybersecurity issues, MCP provides advisories about vulnerabilities and exploits that could threaten the operations of their critical communications networks. Sign up to receive these advisories in your inbox as soon as they are released.

This week, there is a new critical alert that requires the mission-critical community’s immediate attention.

Advisory Overview

The ransomware-as-a-service variant “Egregor” is spiking across the cybersecurity and information technology (IT) landscape after the shutdown of the notorious Maze ransomware campaign. Some major organizations have fallen victim to the malware, including Kmart, Cencosud (a retail giant in South America), Randstad NV (the world’s largest staffing company and owner of Monster.com), and Translink (Vancouver’s bus and rail transportation system).

The ransomware has been seen hijacking printers and repeatedly printing the ransom note. In the case of retail organizations, the ransom note has been printing on consumers’ receipts at checkout. Mission Critical Partners recommends deploying advanced endpoint protection to block ransomware pre-execution.

Improved Criminal-Justice Outcomes Driven by Better-Integrated Data Will Rebuild Citizen Trust

An incredible amount of data exists in the world, and it’s going to increase by orders of magnitude. In fact, some experts believe that the amount of data available worldwide will increase by 300 percent by 2025—a short five years from now. That’s truly mind-boggling.

On a high level, more and better data leads to enhanced decision-making and improved outcomes, regardless of one’s business. But at ground level, for data to be useful it needs to be “actionable,” because a tsunami of raw information would be unmanageable at best, overwhelming at worst. This is especially true in the public-safety and criminal-justice environments, where lives are on the line and every second matters. There’s simply no time, in the moment, to sift through a big pile of data and try to make sense of it.

A Few Thoughts on Data Integration for Public Safety Agencies

There was a time, not that long ago, when voice communications were king in the public safety community, and data communications were an afterthought. This largely was driven by the limitations of narrowband wireless systems. In the earliest days of data communications, such systems delivered throughput rates of 9,600 baud, which enabled the equivalent of text messages. Things improved a bit when data generated to and from field personnel was transmitted via air cards provisioned by commercial wireless carriers, but only modestly—the largest files that could be transmitted then were mug shots, and they often took a long time to arrive, if they arrived at all.

Policies and Training are Critical to Effective Body-Worn Camera Usage

The Chicago Sun-Times recently published a story that provides a cautionary tale that should be heeded by any law enforcement agency that is providing, or thinking of providing, body-worn cameras to its sworn officers.

Advances in Records Management Systems for Law Enforcement Agencies

In policing, records management systems (RMS) enable agencies to store, retrieve, and view information that is critical to law enforcement operations, from crime-solving to trend analysis and enhanced case management. While this technology is the cornerstone for agencies to effectively serve and protect their communities, it has remained largely unchanged for decades.

Succession Planning Is a Must for Every Emergency Communications Center

The term “baby boomer” applies to anyone born between 1946 and 1964. There have been a lot of us—according to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 73 million in total. And by 2030, all of the baby boomers will be 65 or older—which means that many are leaving the workforce. In fact, the Census Bureau estimates that about 10,000 people cross the age threshold every day. It further is estimated that about 365 Americans retire every hour. Consequently, every emergency communications center (ECC) needs to start planning now for the so-called “silver tsunami,” which promises to exacerbate the staffing shortages that many centers already are experiencing.

Crisis Communications Planning for Mission Critical Agencies: The Basics

Public safety and other critical-infrastructure agencies responsible for providing mission-critical and lifesaving services to their communities must be able to do so under any circumstances. To ensure that they are able to maintain operations, agencies develop continuity-of-operations (COOP) and disaster-recovery (DR) plans to help mitigate the impact of a crisis. What these plans often forget, however, is how an agency will communicate with its stakeholders, both internal and external, during a crisis.