The NICC (National Infrastructure Coordinating Center) Watch Operations Department of Homeland Security is on alert after the Department of Energy announced that on April 6, 2019, there will be an event affecting the electric transmission and distribution system that has industry concerned about the potential for a major disruption.
During the Week Number rollover of the Global Positioning System (GPS), (week of April 6 week number) which uses uses the 10-bit binary system will reach its limit of 1,024 weeks and will be forced to roll over and be reset to week 0. This is similar to what happened in 2000 with the Y2K roll-over event.
Potential for a National Disaster
Hopefully this will turn out to be a non-event like Y2K but no one is quite sure of the outcome, which can potentially be a national emergency as the current state of technology has evolved immensely since then. We are more dependent on wireless, internet and satellite based communications today which compounds the potential for a major disaster.
What is Affected:
Well, just about everything as Synchronization and timing systems are a critical factor in so many industries’ successful operations. Telecom (e.g., 5G) – Financial Services – Electric Grid/Power – Transportation/Automotive – Industrial Internet- Broadcasting and Multi-Media are just some of the systems which can be affected.
More About the NICC:
The National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC) is the dedicated 24/7 coordination and information sharing operations center that maintains situational awareness of the nation’s critical infrastructure for the federal government. When an incident or event affecting critical infrastructure occurs and requires coordination between the Department of Homeland Security and the owners and operators of our nation’s infrastructure, the NICC serves as that information sharing hub to support the security and resilience of these vital assets. The NICC is part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Infrastructure Security division and the DHS National Operations Center.
The Department leads the federal government’s efforts to secure our nation’s critical infrastructure by working with owners and operators to prepare for, prevent, mitigate, and respond to threats. To address threats to our nation from cyberattacks, natural disasters, or the actions of others that could disrupt our power, water, communications and other critical systems, the President issued Executive Order on Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity and Presidential Policy Directive on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience. These policies link the both cyber and physical security information sharing between the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) and the NICC to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. government’s work to secure critical infrastructure and make it more resilient.
FAKE NEWS they just want you to take money out of the bank, by gas, and purchase thing you dont need!!! I call for the Special Counsel to investigate!!! 🙂
Well, actually, behind the scenes the whole GPS system may be replaced. There have been major GPS spoofing incidents by the Russians lately which has disrupted the navigation systems of air traffic, maritime vessels and vehicles. Putin has reportedly been “located” many miles away from his actual location as well as military and commercial aircraft and sea-going vessels. Very dangerous. The rollover is a prime opportunity to “upgrade” the GPS system on the International Space Station to possibly gain the advantage over the Russian GPS spoofing. We’ll have to see what happens on many levels.