2 minute read
Newswatch
DIRS, backup power in FCC focus
This year’s hurricanes and wildfires have prompted the FCC to examine protocols it uses to gather communications infrastructure information from broadcasters and others following a natural disaster.
In September the FCC opened a notice of proposed rulemaking to take comments. It proposes to require broadcasters to report outages following disasters.
The current Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) is voluntary. During times of emergency, DIRS enables broadcasters to report service degradations and request assistance if necessary.
Typically the FCC compiles the data and provides network status information to federal emergency management officials, and it publishes reports of restoration information.
The commission uses the information gathered through DIRS and the Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) to develop situational awareness during outages and analyze outage trends.
The FCC also is considering backup power requirements for DIRS and NORS participants.
“To the extent that the commission were to adopt backup power requirements, providers subject to them, potentially including cable providers, Direct Broadcast Satellite providers, Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service, TV and radio broadcasters, Commercial Mobile Radio Service and other wireless service providers, wireline providers and VoIP providers, could potentially be required to take steps to make their networks more resilient to power outages,” it stated.
Marketron recovers from ransomware hack
Marketron said it hired forensic investigators and cybersecurity firms “to stand up an entirely new network environment, a gold standard in recovery from a security Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images perspective” after a ransomware attack took its services offline for about a week in September.
The company serves approximately 6,000 media organizations and, according to its website, manages $5 billion in annual U.S. advertising revenue. Its products include sales and traffic management software tools.
Services that were affected included Marketron Traffic, Visual Traffic Cloud, Exchange and Advertiser Portal.
The company posted a series of recommendations for clients whose service has been restored.
The publication Inside Radio quoted Marketron CEO Jim Howard saying the Russian criminal organization BlackMatter was responsible for the attack.
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