Why Cyber Security is Now a Mission-critical Requirement for Public Safety?

Con Balaskas, Director of Services, Motorola Solutions

Con Balaskas, Director of Services, Motorola Solutions

Public safety agencies all over the world face significant challenges in responding to natural disasters. This is especially true in Australia where both the frequency and severity of bushfires and floods have increased in recent years.

In addition to taking a substantial human and environmental toll, it is estimated that the direct cost of extreme weather events in Australia will reach more than $35 billion by 2050.

As the age-old proverb says, “necessity is the mother of invention”. That’s certainly the case in Australia where public safety agencies are investing in innovation and modern technology to improve their responsiveness and resilience to natural disasters.

When a crisis strikes, different emergency services need to communicate and collaborate to coordinate their response and maintain awareness as the incident unfolds. Land Mobile Radio (LMR) - which most of us identify as radio communication for police and firefighting purposes - has long provided the most trusted and reliable way for public safety agencies to communicate. However, these are typically deployed as private networks and often used by one emergency service agency without providing access to other agencies.

Now, public safety agencies can extend the reach and value of their mission-critical LMR communications to much wider geographic areas and many more users. Known as “Broadband Push-to-Talk”, these technologies leverage broadband technology and the cloud to connect different radio communication systems together.

To ensure uninterrupted firefighter communication during network outages, Fire & Rescue New South Wales has deployed a combination of radio, 4G, and satellite connectivity to its fire trucks. This gives the agency the ability to communicate in rural and remote areas that go far beyond the traditional footprint of its LMR network. The solution works by automatically switching to the best available communications network, between broadband, satellite, and Wi-Fi.

While this is a pivotal development to improve emergency response, it’s also essential that public safety does not compromise cyber security when roaming across different communication networks and embracing new, data-driven technologies.

Balancing Innovation with Cyber Security

We all know that the threat of cyber-attacks continues to grow. It’s estimated that global cyber-attacks grew by 42 percent in the first half of 2022 alone. In Australia, we also saw high-profile data breaches impacting major organisations including Optus and Medibank which led to the exposure of personal records for millions of customers.

It’s easy to understand why data and cyber security are non-negotiable requirements in the public safety sector.

Having secure data and communication is essential for police agencies to protect evidence and uphold their criminal investigations. Similarly, ambulance services must ensure that all of their patient’s health records are kept private and fully secured.

Put simply, public safety and government organisations have much at risk when it comes to cyber security - that’s why they must ensure that any new solutions they introduce are proven, properly tested, and secured from external threats.

Embedding Cyber Security Services in Public Safety

An emerging trend among public safety organisations is greater investment in safeguards and cyber services to protect sensitive data and communication. One example of this is the New South Wales Telco Authority which included 24 x 7 cybersecurity services as part of its latest contract extension for the statewide Public Safety Network. The addition of cyber services will help to keep New South Wales’ mission-critical communications technology up-to-date, secure, and performing reliably for more than 50 public safety agencies that depend on the network every day.

What the Future Holds

Providing public safety agencies with access to richer data and communication will help them to work more productively and safely today while transforming their capabilities into the future.

Providing public safety agencies with access to richer data and communication will help them to work more productively and safely today while transforming their capabilities into the future

Take the Western Australia Police Force for example. It uses a variety of technologies including LMR for everyday communication in parallel to purpose-built smart applications. Used together, these solutions provide instant, reliable communication and help to collate critical information from multiple systems so that frontline personnel work more safely and effectively.

We expect to see a rapid increase in the take up of innovative public safety technologies in the future. A global research study from the Goldsmiths University of London and Motorola Solutions examined how the pandemic accelerated the development and deployment of technology for public safety agencies. It identified the major technology trends influencing the sector as; cloud-based computing, video security and analytics, data sharing and interoperability, and the continuing reliance on mission-critical communications.

Just imagine how the sector could apply those technologies to reach new heights in protecting and serving our communities. With access to video security feeds, advanced software applications, and interoperable communication, the connections between frontline workers and their colleagues working in control rooms will only grow stronger. They will be able to see, hear and sense more of what’s happening around them, apply more data science to predict events before they occur and send finite resources where they can have their greatest effect.

For example, cloud-based analytics and weather mapping tools could be used to help a fire agency predict where the next major bushfire will occur.

Greater migration to the cloud will also enable more critical functions such as Computer Aided Dispatch and emergency call taking to be handled more flexibly, efficiently, and with greater support and backup links.

These are all exciting developments, but they also serve to remind us why cyber security risks should not be taken for granted. As the cyber threat surface grows, every organisation must employ a “zero trust” approach whereby every user, on every device, at every stage of an organisation’s digital journey is considered and made accountable for maintaining the highest levels of security.

The application of innovations will ultimately improve public safety and personal security for all Australians. However, a technology-driven new era in public safety can only be successful with the right focus and attention to cyber security and resilience.