Kirk Anders Harnack
10 Commandments of Broadcaster Cybersecurity

Broadcast cybersecurity is no longer only an information-technology (IT) concern. The devices most capable of interrupting, altering, or embarrassing a station are often the same devices engineers depend on to keep programming moving: Emergency Alert System equipment, studio-transmitter links, codecs, automation systems, audio processors, remote-control systems, streaming appliances, and other remotely managed equipment in the air chain. A compromise can produce much more than a data loss. It can place unauthorized material on the air, suppress a legitimate emergency alert, create dead air, or prevent engineers from regaining control of the facility.

This paper is intentionally not a configuration manual. Rather, it identifies ten areas that station management and engineering must keep visible, assign responsibility for, and revisit regularly. Three of these are especially urgent because the Federal Communications Commission has now adopted baseline cybersecurity requirements for Emergency Alert System participants. The remaining seven are operational best practices that make those required controls more effective and help a station detect, contain, and recover from an incident.

Location: Atrium