Page 42 - GCN, Feb/Mar 2018

FIRSTNET
lock users’ sessions after a set period of inactivity, and monitor usage, including password changes.
“If law enforcement community is go- ing to use this system, then it must be se- cure and meet the \\\[the Justice Depart- ment’s\\\] security requirements,” Mitch Medigovich, deputy director of public- safety communications at CalOES, said in an email. “If the system is not compli- ant, then agencies will find another se- cure system.”
In an emailed response, an AT&T spokesman listed the many security fea- tures the $40 billion network will have, such as end-to-end FIPS 140-2-compli- ant virtual-private network solutions, radio, transport and network core en- cryption, and advanced physical and logical security protocols.
“As we have previously explained to California and will continue to work with them on the matter, the system was never designed to meet all the ele- ments of the FBI’s CJIS Security Policy (CSP),” the spokesman wrote, “as many of these elements are the responsibility
of individual criminal justice agencies or each state’s CJIS System Agency as required under the shared management philosophy of the CSP. ”
California is the only state that raised concerns about FirstNet’s compliance with CJIS, the spokesman added. “Oth- ers may have made their own deter- minations on how FirstNet can help to meet their CJIS compliance require- ments. This shows that an entity’s com- pliance needs can vary from the state level down to the agency.”
AT&T recommended that California implement tools from NetMotion, a pro- vider of mobile performance and ana- lytics solutions that are in use at 80 per- cent of state law enforcement agencies nationwide. AT&T would charge users for this application.
The state took issue with that pro- posal. “We did not feel we should be charged extra,” Medigovich said. “If the agencies that are going to be using the system require it to be secure, we shouldn’t have to pay more.”
NetMotion officials cautioned that
their solutions don’t translate to auto- matic CJIS compliance, which has no standardized approach. Although the company’s tools protect criminal justice information end to end, agencies still must customize the solution to meet their specific requirements.
“We do provide a substantial part of what is needed to be compliant \\\[with CJIS\\\], but you don’t just go deploy Net- Motion and suddenly you’re CJIS-com- pliant,” the company’s Vice Presidents of Products John Knopf said. “Every de- partment has to read through the CJIS specification and implement that the way in which they need.”
If agencies do that, they can be CJIS- compliant regardless of the network, added Steve Fallin, Netmotion mobility product manager. “For instance, if you bought services from Sprint, Verizon, some other division of AT&T mobile ... we’re going to support you and your security mission on those networks as well,” Fallin said. “From that perspective, the FirstNet offering that AT&T is putting together is just another network of the
NTIA awards next round of FirstNet planning grants
SARA FRIEDMAN
With every U.S. state and territory having now opted into the FirstNet public safety broadband network, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
on March 1 announced awards from the State and Local Implementation Grant Program 2.0 to help some of those jurisdictions prepare for the FirstNet roll out.
NTIA distributed $116.5 million in grants to 54 states and territories between July 2013 and June 2014 through the first round of SLIGP, which was designed to help state, regional, tribal, and local jurisdictions plan to integrate the FirstNet infrastructure, equipment and other architecture for their wireless broadband and data services needs. This second round of grants will allow states to participate in
a wider range of planning activities such as developing data sharing agreements, transitioning public safety applications to FirstNet, analyzing coverage gaps and convening stakeholder meetings.
The recipients of the SLIGP 2.0 grants are: 1 Alaska Department of Public Safety ($200,000)
2 Georgia Emergency Management Agency ($407,102) 3 Idaho Military Division ($250,000)
4 Iowa Department of Public Safety ($229,030)
5 Kansas Adjutant General’s Department ($250,000)
6 Commonwealth of Kentucky, Finance Cabinet ($250,000)
7 Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services ($249,960)Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security ($250,000)Nebraska Department of Administrative Services ($250,000)
8 New Mexico Department of Information Technology ($250,000)
9 Pennsylvania State Police ($425,000)
10 Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security ($250,000)
42 GCN FEBRUARY/ MARCH 2018 • GCN.COM