The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) seeks public comment on the creation of a Cybersecurity Roadmap, as recommended by the National Broadband Plan. The deadline for comments is September 23, 2010.
The notice rightly states that cybersecurity is a vital topic for the Commission because of the risk that unchecked vulnerabilities in the communications infrastructure pose for safety and privacy. The Plan calls for the Roadmap to identify the five most critical cybersecurity threats to the communications infrastructure and its end users, and to establish a two-year plan on how to address those threats. The Roadmap aims to identify vulnerabilities to communications networks or end-users and to develop countermeasures and solutions in preparation for, and response to, cyber threats and attacks in coordination with federal partners.
The Roadmap is an opportunity for utilities to comment on the high level of reliability and security required to run their internal communications networks that support the nation’s critical infrastructure. This effort to outline cybersecurity standards is one of the many being undertaken by the government as cybersecurity gets a larger focus. The Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are also drafting guidelines for cybersecurity principles for the industry. Additionally, utility customer experiences with security will determine their adoption and demand of smart grid enabled energy data management technologies.