Massachusetts officials announced Wednesday that the state’s 911 outage on Tuesday was caused by a firewall, quelling concerns the more than an hour-long crash was the result of a cyberattack.
The outage lasted about two hours. (Photo by Mark Garfinkel/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty ... [+]
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security said in a statement a firewall, which is designed to prevent cyberattacks, stopped 911 calls from reaching dispatch centers.
A preliminary investigation from the agency confirmed the outage was not caused by a cyberattack or hack, though it has not yet determined the specific reason the firewall triggered an outage.
The interruption to the 911 system lasted from about 1:15 p.m. local time Tuesday to 3:15, when it was fully restored.
A full review of the outage’s cause is still being conducted as of Wednesday.
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8,800. That’s the average number of calls Massachusetts’ 911 dispatch centers received in 2023, according to state officials.
The outage, designated as a “technical issue” on Tuesday, forced officials to ask people in Massachusetts to call precincts or pull on emergency fire boxes in case of an emergency. The interruption came amid the state’s first heat wave of the summer, which brought high humidity and hot temperatures exceeding the 90 degree mark. Brian Fontes, the chief executive of the National Emergency Number Association, told The New York Times that upgrading the U.S. 911 system would cost an estimated $15 billion.
911 System Restored In Massachusetts After Statewide Outage (Forbes)
‘We Just Always Expect It to Work’: 911 Outage Shows System’s Perils (New York Times)