"Making 911 Calls More Secure"
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $1.2 million grant to a team of researchers from Purdue University and Michigan State University to continue enhancing the security of cellular 911 calls. In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has enacted regulations to make it easier for cell phone users to contact 911 in an emergency. The research team became interested in how US cell phone services comply with regulations. They discovered that compliance with the regulations could compromise security. For example, companies cannot apply encryption and integrity protection to emergency calls as they would to non-emergency calls. This can create a security vulnerability in cellular 911 communications. The team will perform various research tasks to facilitate an interdisciplinary understanding of emergency service attacks against the mobile ecosystem. They will also analyze associated research issues as well as develop algorithms, tools, and platforms to bolster the security of cellular emergency services. This article continues to discuss the project aimed at reducing cybersecurity risks to protect cellular 911 calls.