Fake alert tones and obscene language hijacked Emergency Alert System feeds at radio stations last year, and the fallout is now a compliance deadline. NAB and NASBA are hosting a free webinar to help broadcasters prepare for new FCC cybersecurity requirements.
The new rules require 15-character passwords, network firewalls, network segmentation, and prompt installation of security patches and updates, changes NAB and NASBA warn could be complex and costly for some stations. The webinar is aimed at station owners, general managers, engineers and IT professionals working through the September 29 deadline, and runs at noon ET on September 1.
The webinar is free, but registration is required.
That mandate stems from a Report and Order the FCC adopted by a 3-0 vote in June, following incidents in which hackers broke into EAS equipment at a Houston radio station and a Richmond-area NPR affiliate, injecting fake alert tones and obscene language into live broadcasts. The FCC has estimated compliance will cost stations no more than $1,000 and about 10 hours of labor per year.
Wayne Pecena, associate director of engineering for Texas A&M University’s KAMU-TV and KAMU-FM in College Station, Texas, will join Edward Czarnecki, Ph.D., vice president of Global and Government Affairs at Digital Alert Systems, and Harold Price, president of Sage Alerting Systems, on the panel. Price has worked in EAS since the FCC’s original field trials in 1994. Dave Arland, executive director of the Indiana Broadcasters Association, and David Donovan, president of the New York State Broadcasters Association, will moderate.
