State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Three Critical Steps to Next-Gen 911 Security

Government Technology: Next-Generation 911 (NG911) services are the future for emergency call centers. Unfortunately, so are cyberattacks. Over the past two years, there have been more than 180 cyberattacks on public safety agencies and local governments. About 20 percent of them impacted 911 call centers.

As we move from a legacy, landline network environment for Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) to an open Internet protocol-based solution, we can more accurately pinpoint the exact location and nature of emergencies and help save many more lives. But a more open system is a more vulnerable system. This is the dilemma that NG911’s advancements have created: if you can communicate, you’re vulnerable. If you can’t communicate, you’re irrelevant.

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