On November 20, 2024, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (“Bureau”) released a Public Notice reminding service providers (“SPs”) to implement relevant industry-accepted best practices and recommendations from the Commission’s Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (“CSRIC”). Following the Bureau’s assessment of AT&T’s Mobility Network Outage, which could have been mitigated by adopting CSRIC best practices, the Bureau emphasized two areas for SPs to prioritize:
- Change Management: Recent outage data highlights the importance of careful planning for changes to operational networks, such as deploying new platforms, updates, or configuration changes, to minimize risks like outages. Best practices include: managing scheduled and unscheduled changes, completing integration planning for new elements, documenting testing and validation processes before and after changes, and maintaining a clear back-out plan for maintenance activities.
- Network Oversight: Recent outages highlight the need for checks like peer or management reviews to catch errors before implementation. Best practices include documenting policies, enforcing oversight through installation and maintenance guidelines, and ensuring all parties comply with expectations.
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