One-Net™ and DASDEC™ Users Must Update Certificate Before June 24 to Maintain Proper Operation

LYNDONVILLE, N.Y. — June 7, 2018 — Monroe Electronics and its Digital Alert Systems subsidiary, the global leaders in emergency communications solutions for video services providers, today announced the addition of new IPAWS Certificate Authority (CA) credentials for the One-Net™ and DASDEC™ series of EAS/CAP encoder/decoders. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently issued the new CA to replace a certificate in the current certification chain that will expire on June 24. One-Net and DASDEC users in the U.S. are advised to replace the soon-to-expire certificate to assure that devices configured to require message authentication will continue to operate properly.

“This is an essential update for all EAS gear polling IPAWS, so we are releasing this update file for DASDEC and One-Net users to take action and replace the expiring certs. It’s easy to do,” said Ed Czarnecki, senior director of strategy and government affairs for Monroe Electronics and Digital Alert Systems. “We have been advised there will be several certificate and policy changes through the end of 2018 that will necessitate some certificate updates during this period. We’re constantly evaluating and updating our systems to stay in step with IPAWS, and since assisting customers is our top priority, we are actively working on new methods of managing government certificates with an improved path forward.”

FEMA uses digital certificates called CAs to create a “chain of trust” between an Emergency Alert System (EAS) device and the IPAWS servers. The One-Net and DASDEC EAS/CAP devices use these special digital certificates to validate the authenticity of IPAWS-sourced Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) alerts. These certificates are designed to expire at a specific date and time, requiring the issuing authority to publish new certificates from time to time. In general, Monroe Electronics receives new certificates about one month before expiration, which determines the amount of advance notice the company can give its customers for certificate replacement.

All One-Net and DASDEC customers using the IPAWS system must have the latest digital certificates in place to assure the validity of the communications chain of trust, which prevents a “man-in-the-middle” attack by only processing the messages that are authenticated through the IPAWS system. IPAWS users who fail to update their equipment before June 24 could see the error message: “Event Log:Digital Signature VERIFICATION ERROR : Signer UNTRUSTED! Check for correct CAP decoder CA file.;”

The new field service bulletin and CA file are available now from the Digital Alert Systems website at www.digitalalertsystems.com/resources_fsb.html. One-Net and DASDEC customers should go to the website, download the field service bulletin for instructions, and link to the new CA file.

More information about Monroe Electronics products is available at www.monroe-electronics.com. Further information about Digital Alert Systems and its products is available at www.digitalalertsystems.com.

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About Monroe Electronics and Digital Alert Systems

Monroe Electronics began operations in 1954 designing and manufacturing specialized electrostatic discharge (ESD) instrumentation that continues today. From its headquarters in Lyndonville, New York, the company provides R&D, manufacturing, sales, and customer service for all Monroe Electronics, One-Net™, and Digital Alert Systems brands. Monroe Electronics’ Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) are the widely accepted standard for CATV with a hard-earned reputation for quality, reliability, and service to valued customers around the world. In October 2009, Digital Alert Systems, the leading innovator of next-generation Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) and EAS, merged with Monroe Electronics to further extend its product offerings to radio and television broadcasters and better serve their collective customers into the future.

More information is available at www.monroe-electronics.com.

All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

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