Cybersecurity threats and issues are increasing and evolving continuously, seemingly at warp speed. It is difficult to keep up with it all—but it is imperative that every organization does everything possible to protect its networks, systems and devices from cyberattacks. This is especially true of organizations that provide mission-critical, life-saving services, e.g., law enforcement agencies, fire/rescue departments, emergency medical services agencies and emergency communications centers, aka 911 centers.

On December 8, Mission Critical Partners (MCP) kicked off its tenth-annual, two-day extravaganza in Pittsburgh, an event that brings together all 125 MCP professionals from around the county, as well as keynote speakers and several clients. The purpose of the event is to discuss in detail emerging and industry-changing topics, network, inspire, and educate MCP professionals on the biggest topics impacting public safety.

The key theme that emerged at this year’s end-of-year event was the need for the public safety community to figure out ways to harness the tremendous amount of data that could be available to first responders in the nation’s emergency communications centers (ECCs) and in the field.