San Diego, CA – On June 2, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International hosted a workshop in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce and Public Safety Communications Research Program (PSCR) at a U.S. Coast Guard facility in San Diego.  The workshop was a joint effort of APCO and staff from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to address data security issues for mobile applications designed to serve public safety.  Staff from the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) also contributed to the program, offering a perspective of their efforts related to the development of the nationwide public safety broadband network.

The event built upon a February 2014 workshop which is summarized in a NIST report entitled, “Public Safety Mobile Application Security Requirements” (available here).  Public safety professionals, app developers, security experts, and others gathered to consider various use cases, identify the data that would assist response, and apply security concepts to evaluate risks if the data was compromised.  The outcome of the workshop will be a NIST report that summarizes the findings and outlines a “data dictionary” that categorizes public safety data and identifies appropriate security safeguards, which was a recommendation from the first workshop’s report.

APCO President John Wright said, “Mobile apps hold incredible potential, but several issues must be addressed before first responders or the public can rely upon them during emergencies. Collaborative events like this workshop are critical for exploring the issues and building relationships that lead to improvements for the entire community.  I want to thank the U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Diego, and all the workshop participants for contributing to this important effort.”

APCO International® (www.apcointl.org)

APCO International is the world’s oldest and largest organization of public safety communications professionals and supports the largest U.S. membership base of any public safety association. It serves the needs of public safety communications practitioners worldwide – and the welfare of the general public as a whole.