Security News
The Federal Communications Commission announced earlier this week that phone companies are now required to filter calls from providers who haven't complied with a deadline to block illegal robocalls expired on September 28th. They can only accept calls from voice service providers registered in the Robocall Mitigation Database who have implemented caller ID authentication technology for calls carried made over Internet Protocol networks or filed a robocall mitigation plan with the FCC. "This technology is critical to protecting Americans from scams using spoofed robocalls because it erodes the ability of callers to illegally spoof a caller ID, which scammers use to trick Americans into answering their phones when they shouldn't," the FCC explains. To make it easy to comply with this robocall blocking deadline, the FCC provides an email subscription service that telecom companies can use to keep track of changes to the Robocall Mitigation Database.
The Federal Communications Commission in the U.S. this week announced that it started to work on rules that would pull the brake on SIM swapping attacks. The decision comes after the agency "Received numerous complaints from consumers who have suffered significant distress, inconvenience, and financial harm as a result of SIM swapping and port-out fraud."
A secret campaign by the broadband industry to offer support to roll back net neutrality resulted in fake comments comprising more than 40 percent of those sent to the FCC during the public comments phase of its decision, according to the report by the New York State Office of the Attorney General. On the other side of the debate, a 19-year-old college student who opposed the repeal of net neutrality managed to file more than 7.7 million pro-neutrality comments with the FCC by fabricating people's names and addresses using software.
Last Thursday, Rosenworcel made a statement on future priorities by reestablishing the Communications, Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council with a focus on 5g networks and software and cloud services vulnerabilities. "That is why I am refocusing and revitalizing the FCC's Communications, Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council for the challenges of today and tomorrow. The damage from recent supply chain attacks, like the SolarWinds software breach, demonstrates our need for a coordinated, multifaceted, and strategic approach to protecting our networks from all threats."
Outgoing Federal Communications Chair Ajit Pai has issued a final warning about Chinese telcos at the end of a tenure spent cracking down on companies like Huawei, ZTE and China Telecom. Pai, a former telecommunications industry lobbyist and in-house counsel for Verizon, told Reuters that managing security threats against U.S. networks from Chinese espionage will be the "Biggest national security issue that regulators will face in the next four years."
Ossia announced that the Federal Communications Commission granted Ossia an additional equipment authorization for its next-generation Cota wireless power platform. The FCC's approval authorizes wireless power delivery and data communications under Parts 18 and 15, respectively, of the FCC's rules and permits the system to be marketed and sold in the U.S. This FCC authorization marks the culmination of on-going efforts at Ossia to improve performance and capabilities of the platform as a launchpad to new applications and use cases.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday designated Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE as national security threats. By declaring the Chinese companies national security threats, the FCC is banning U.S. organizations from acquiring equipment or services using money from the agency's Universal Service Fund.
7% of the recommendations were only partially implemented and 30% were not implemented at all as of November 2019, although the FCC is planning on fully implementing all recommendations by April 2021. "Until FCC fully implements these recommendations and resolves the associated deficiencies, its information systems and information will remain at increased risk of misuse, improper disclosure or modification, and loss," GAO notes in the newly published report.
Rather, they enable carriers to authenticate calls, after which consumers will be able to tell if a number is likely to be a robocall. The FCC says STIR/SHAKEN should help to protect consumers against malicious caller ID spoofing, often used in robocall scams to trick us into answering our phones so telemarketers and/or scammers can bleat at us.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission today proposed fines of more than $200 million against the nation's four largest wireless carriers for selling access to their customers' location information without taking adequate precautions to prevent unauthorized access to that data. While the fines would be among the largest the FCC has ever levied, critics say the penalties don't go far enough to deter wireless carriers from continuing to sell customer location data.