FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Speaks About Cybersecurity At RSA Conference

As cyber week continues in Washington, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler traveled to the west coast to speak about cybersecurity at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. Wheeler noted that the FCC has several charges to protect against cyber-attacks and similar threats, including the agency's responsibility to protect the safety of communications networks generally, as well as its responsibility to protect the privacy of consumer data collected by communications providers.

Wheeler centered his remarks on information sharing and accountability by the private sector. He suggested that the communications industry's approach to 911 calls – a combination of industry best practices and rules requiring that network outages be reported to the government – could serve as a model for cybersecurity information sharing. Cyber-attacks should be subject to similar reporting requirements.