Broadcasting as a Cyber Threat Vector: Ten Steps Broadcasters Need to Take Now

Cyber threats to financial institutions, electric utilities, broadband providers, government agencies, Hollywood studios and even emerging Web-connected household appliances get a lot of ink. But one major potential threat vector, television and radio broadcasting, doesn't conjure up the kind of concerns that these other avenues of cyber intrusion do.

That's changing, though, in the wake of a major cyber attack that took place last April when French broadcaster TV5Monde was hijacked, with eleven of its channels going dark and its social media outlets commandeered to display pro-ISIS messages. Although a group called the CyberCaliphate claimed credit for the damaging breach, the French government has lately cast some blame on Russian hackers who, the government suggests, was using the CyberCaliphate as a false flag.

Whatever the case may be, the TV5Monde attack was a wake-up call to the broadcasting sector that it too is vulnerable to the kinds of disruptive cyber intrusions and attacks that affect other critical aspects of society. That's why top broadcasting publication TVNewsCheck and I have joined hands to offer the first of its kind webinar, "Cybersecurity for Broadcasters: Ten Steps You Need to Take Right Now," aimed at helping broadcasters come up to speed on how to protect their assets from unwanted and potentially damaging cyber intrusions and how to become more resilient in the face of what will undoubtedly be more future cyber attacks.

Slated for July 22 from 2 pm to 3:30, the webinar features a top line-up of experts (with more to come) including:

• Rear Admiral (ret) David Simpson, Bureau Chief, FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security
• Kelly Williams, Engineering & Technology Policy, Senior Director, National Association of Broadcasters
• Ed Czarnecki, Strategy & Global Government Affairs, Senior Director, Monroe Electronics

For more background on the array of cybersecurity concerns that broadcasters face, check out the piece I wrote for TVNewsCheck that I hope lays it all out fairly well and stayed tuned for more information as we update the speaker line-up. If you have any thoughts or questions, drop me an email. (As a personal aside, it's been nice to bring my two areas of professional experience, communications media and cybersecurity, together in an interesting project, something I hope to continue to explore).

And don't forget to check out Metacurity.com, a continuously updated source of cybersecurity intelligence and news aimed at solving the info-overload that increasingly bedevils most infosec professionals.

Posted in: Broadcasting,Critical Infrastructure,CSRIC,Cyber Breaches,Cyber Crime,Cyber Security,FCC