Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: Heightened Threat Activity Expected as Global Conflicts Intensify

Advisory Overview

This week there is a new critical alert that requires the mission-critical community’s immediate attention. As tensions continue to rise between Russia and Ukraine, cyberattackers have targeted the Ukrainian government and other Ukrainian organizations.

MCP’s Acquisition of MTG Management Consultants: One Year Later

Exactly one year ago, MCP announced the acquisition of Seattle-based MTG Management Consultants, which today is known as our Justice, Management, and Technology (JMT) services team. This acquisition has generated enormous benefits for our clients and the firm over the past 12 months.

New Podcast Offers Numerous Ideas to Solving the 911 Community’s Staffing Problems

Dutch folklore recounts the story of a little boy who plugs a hole that formed in a dike, using only his finger, to keep his town from flooding — he stays in place through the night despite the cold and becomes a hero. If this story were applied to today’s 911 community, the boy would need to use multiple digits or would need a few of his pals to help out.

Innovative Data Integration Strategies to Solve EMS Billing Challenges

We write every now and then about the billing woes that traditionally have plagued the emergency medical services (EMS) community. The inability to efficiently bill patients and collect payments cost EMS agencies hundreds of millions of dollars every year. The trickle-down effect is that many agencies often find it difficult to maintain their service-delivery models, pay salaries and benefits, ensure that existing equipment is operational, and upgrade or replace equipment that has reached or is approaching the end of life.

Newest Podcast Covers the 911 Community’s Biggest Issues — CAD System Inconsistency, the Staffing Crisis, and More

For more than a half century, the 911 system in the United States has performed admirably, saving countless lives in the process. But today it needs some work. A migration to Next Generation 911, which represents a quantum leap forward in terms of capabilities compared with the legacy 911 system, is what we hear about most often. But several other key aspects require equally rapt attention.

Recently I participated in a podcast with Laurie Flaherty, the recently retired coordinator of the National 911 Program, and John Chiaramonte, president of Mission Critical Partners' consulting business, in which a few of the most pressing needs were discussed. (Click here to view the podcast, or view it as video here.)

Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: Microsoft Issues Emergency Updates

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

In response to critical bugs in its Patch Tuesday release for January 2022, Microsoft released several out-of-band (OOB) updates to its Windows Server updates. After initially pulling these updates for further review on January 13, Microsoft made them available to download again via Windows Update the next day. Now that these issues were  resolved, MCP recommends that all managed service providers (MSPs) download the January 2022 security updates and the emergency OOB patches to protect their critical servers.

Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: Continued Log4j Scanning Activity

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.

A Toolkit Designed To Help Telecommunicators Get Their Due

A problem long has existed in the 911 community, which is that telecommunicators working in emergency communications centers (ECCs) from coast to coast are wrongly classified by the federal government. This has a profoundly negative effect on their self-esteem, compensation, and career development.

The National 911 Program created a toolkit, with Mission Critical Partners’ help, to address this. More on that soon — but first a little history.

Take This Step to Move Next Generation 911 Interconnection Forward

Next generation 911 (NG911) networks represent a huge leap forward compared with legacy 911 systems. They locate emergency callers more efficiently and accurately because they leverage geospatial routing. Because they are broadband-enabled, they can transport incredibly large files, e.g., video, that would choke legacy systems. And because they are Internet Protocol (IP)-based, they enable seamless shifting of a 911 center’s operations to another center in a bug-out situation.

Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: Microsoft Patch Tuesday

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.

Life at MCP: Meet Howard Miller

Everyone at MCP is passionate about the public safety and justice communities and their critical missions. They also are passionate about things in their personal lives. Howard Miller, the firm’s new senior recruiter, is no exception – he is passionate about helping the less fortunate, especially children.

One of his favorite endeavors was the creation of the “Shop with a Badge,” program when he was a senior public relations officer for the Brookhaven, Georgia, police department. The program, which still exists and also involves the city’s fire/rescue and emergency medical departments, provides $200 stipends to low-income children that they can spend at Target, which is a sponsor.

Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: Critical Java Zero-Day Vulnerability

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

A critical remote code vulnerability has emerged in Log4j, a Java logging package that is used in numerous software products and platforms from organizations like Apache, Apple, Twitter, Tesla, and Steam. This vulnerability impacts almost every Java application that writes logs using this library. Apache has released a patch for this vulnerability, which is being tracked as CVE-2021-44228. MCP recommends applying this patch immediately to protect your organization.