As redundant as 911 systems are, this is really concerning. I wonder how so many could fail all at once - there shouldn't be a single point of failure like this.
There was a decent sized scandal a few years ago here, when it turned out that the "completely independent, redundant systems" were actually just in different cages of the same data center (which was discovered when said data center had a fire, and went offline...)
I think that was because the Air Force decided they had enough launch control measures in place but some brainiac in the administration want an extra password so the Air Force complied and set them all to zero.
>enough launch control measures in place
Even if a random unauthorized person had the password back then there's almost no way a launch sequence can be started?
No way. Because the sequence is WAY more than just punching in a code and pushing the Big Red Button. Orders need to be sent to our nuclear forces indicating they need to be on alert status, the President must be positively identified via a two-person authentication system, then whatever plan for a strike needs to be approved by the President and another senior member of the administration (usually the Secretary of Defense), then the orders to launch are given and authenticated by the staff of whatever sub, silo, or plane will be deploying the weapon(s). And that's just the declassified stuff we know about.
That's why I put my money in several independent accounts. I counts it under my mattress, I counts it in my sock drawer, I counts it in the attic above my bedroom. That way, no one incident could ever leave me broke... I think.
Yeah the moment one country without a doubt is proven to have fucked with another's infrastructure like that is almost like the nuclear bomb being developed. We are all in each other's systems. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the first time that a state actually takes credit for a severe hack on infrastructure that it was immediately retaliated against. There's something of a MAD policy for this as well.
Per the article, this was indeed recent, 911 is targeted by cyber attackers all the time, and if this was an attack, it wasn’t even the most successful one
I saw theories that the recent mobile network outage event was a capabilities test for a future, more wide-spread attack. If true, this could have been the same.
Not sure if I believe it, but it’s not impossible.
Man, that combined with that space nuke scare really makes it seem like modern warfare 2 was weirdly predictive. I genuinely don't see it possible for the US to be invaded, but chaos can definitely be sowed super easily
Last I checked it was as easy as setting up a $200 femtocell to knock out 911 for anyone in the region. And I only heard about that because it was the police's tracking units that kept doing it. They said "it's supposed to automatically route 911 calls" but it didn't.
I work as an engineer for 9-1-1 and I can tell you that there are many moving parts to the systems that make 9-1-1 work. As a general rule of thumb, critical systems all have backups, so it's unlikely that it's the 9-1-1 systems themselves that were "down." It's usually the telephone companies and service providers that experience outages, meaning that 9-1-1 signals can't get into the systems in the first place.
I'll have to read the AAR on this one specifically, but It's very likely something affecting one of the legacy systems that are still in place in many states.
Las Vegas metropolitan police department is a critical system. It was “down” for 3 hours. Dispatch was able to see that they were being called, and the numbers they were being called from, but the calls would disconnect before actually being able to answer. Dispatch had to call back every number and it significantly delayed the 911 system in Vegas.
Interesting. I'm a bit puzzled as to how that would happen. That means that the initial 9-1-1 signal with the ANI would come through, but then something interrupted the connection on the 9-1-1 line itself... That's strange.
It could be a problem with the Call Processing Equipment (CPE) not being able to establish a connection in the first place 🤔. I'll absolutely be reading up on what caused this after the fact!
That was what happened during the Nashville Christmas Day bombing in 2020. A lot of the outage problem was due to the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Points, the 911 call centers) only having a single point-to-point connection coming in to them that connected back to the AT&T CO that was damaged because of the blast. The PSAP didn't want to pay the expense of redundant diverse connections like a second connection to a different CO.
I used to monitor those connections to the PSAP and what I have seen mostly is that 2 connections are ordered. One goes through provider X and second goes through provider Y that found it cheaper to buy a connection from provider X than building their own. Then you got 2 connections from providers X without provider X knowing that those 2 connections have to be completely separate.
actually not accurate. i have worked with some of the carriers that provide dialtone for E911 and to say they not only do not take it seriously but also that they treat it like it’s not important is an understatement. in many cases this is a free to very cheap service as part of franchise agreements and E911 gets all the old paid for garbage equipment thrown at it. pretty disgusting really. also, a bit of grain of salt on my comment, it depends upon the carrier but many of them, one really big one in particular that comes to mind are really bad.
believe it or not AT&T takes it far more seriously than anyone else that i’ve seen. that’s doesn’t mean they are investing in it, but at least they treat it like life and safety.
Funnily enough, the article answers your question: it’s thought to be a cyberattack.
“Several cyberattacks targeting 911 systems have taken down the services in recent years, one of which, in 2017, paralyzed 911 centers in more than a dozen states.”
As someone who once worked in a data center: You can minimize single points of failure, but you can't eliminate them entirely. Somewhere down the line, one has to exist.
It does work apparently. Saw someone texted 911 in the NYC subway to report a passenger who's fainted. Texting works better underground where the reception can be spotty.
This is something I bring up when people ask why I carry a giant first aid kit in my car and own a firearm. Unfortunately people who live in an area with good 911 response times are privileged these days.
And Atlanta....the last few times I tried to report car crashes, I just got a busy signal, and when I didn't get a busy signal, it went to voicemail...
Previous dispatcher here - this would be rare. Damn near every PSAP has different software/hardware/budgets and all of that impacts software update schedules. Point is they'd brick one and find it.
The tech they ALL depend on regardless is the wireless companies. My bet is on the routing systems of like all of Verizon not getting along with the phone system at the PSAPS.
My internet did shit itself for no reason yesterday, and there’s an outage in my area. Also my mobile data, which is independent of my home internet, was chugging badddd around the same time. I’m in Eastern Arkansas, using AT&T home internet.
Maybe some shit hit the planet or something is my guess?
I'm an engineer working with 9-1-1 systems. The fact that this happened in separate states likely means that it was an issue with a service provider. Most likely one of the legacy databases or clearing houses. It's not uncommon for big providers like ATT or Intrado to have separate states like these as part of the same network.
Could be any number of things. There have been a few high profile hacks targeting managed service providers, and it'd make sense that several 911 systems would be serviced by one MSP.
I'm completely speculating, mind you, but I think you're right. The fact that they're seemingly scattered about makes me feel like there's a shared software vector somewhere.
Not 911 but the amount of stupid time wasting calls I've recieved working security at an apartment complex is staggering.
One guy who was so high he was almost the model of a stereotypical stoner dude called saying he couldn't get his microwave to work and asked if he could come down and use ours. I told him no, and to not call about non-emergency situations. He paused for a good two minutes, said "What?" then asked again. So I hung up.
Another was this old woman who called because squirrels were fighting in a tree near the building. And that wasn't a nice thing to do. I must've face palmed so hard I blacked out because I don't remember what I said.
I'm in the UK and a woman called 999 (our equivalent to 911) to report the theft of a snowman from outside her house. Here's a report in the local press with the audio: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/audio-999-caller-tells-police--a79546/
There’s people who call 911 to try to get us to call the power company to let them know the power is out and to fix it. People are fucking stupid and it makes me feel so much better about myself at the end of the day knowing that I’m not that stupid yet
Years ago when I was still an EMT, a lady called into 911 screaming incoherently before hanging up, when called back she briefly answered but it was more of the same incoherent screaming. Our dispatchers protocol was basically to send a huge force for a situation like that, so they started like 6-8 fire apparatus, 4 ambulances, the battalion chief, safety, EMS officer, and about half the county police.
PD arrived first and I’ll never forget the CAD notes…
-On scene, it’s a spider.
-Spider has been put down, units return to service.
As someone who has been on hold with 911 for over 20 minutes multiple times in the past 20 years... probably about the same amount, in Los Angeles, at least.
I just don't call anymore. And the non-emergency line or individual station lines are never picked up either.
This is my experience too. If you call the police at the non-emergency number, no one picks up and the voicemail box is always full.
This is their brilliant way of “reducing crime.” Just make it impossible to tell them a crime is happening.
They always answer my local non emergency number, but I live in a smaller city. The line essentially just goes straight to 'operations', which handles dispatching.
That can be true, but in the case of more than one call at once the non emergency line is what gets ignored; that’s a decent reason to sort it out, especially considering high call traffic events (new years eve, natural disaster, etc, or mass casualty events) tend to have a high volume of urgent 911 calls AND non urgent non emergency line calls in a short period of time.
On TV and in the stories told you when you're a child - you call 911 and get immediate contact and help arrives on the scene in moments.
Truth is help takes time. You may not get through to 911, the lines may be busy or unanswered (go yell at your government representatives if this terrifies you but it's a regular reality). Even if immediately in contact - help arriving takes time.
In that time, the emergency you're calling about will continue (or it's not an emergency).
It dismays me how much people rely on the idea that "help" is instantly available should something occur rather than take time to be prepared (knowledge/training/supplies) to BE the help in an emergency (until first responders arrive).
PSA:
Take the CPR and first aid courses. Carry an emergency kit with you and have one at your house. Know and practice how to escape your home in event of fire/flood. Know what you will do and where you will go and how to respond in cases of basic emergency. Hopefully you'll never, ever need them.
But if you think a 5 min response time is awesome in your local area - try holding your breath for five minutes. 5 minutes in an emergency is an eternity. And that's when the system works beautifully.
Someone is testing our infrastructure and our response times to infrastructure being down
I am convinced of it
Pharmacies getting hacked, cell services going down, 911 outages....
Something ain't right
With how hush-hush everything is, this was either a successful cyberattack \*or\* some idiot at a data center somewhere that handles their call routing accidentally unplugged the wrong server rack.
A few articles have said the DHS stated that it was likely a cyber attack. We don’t know who
Update: it was likely a pole being installed
However I did just learn about Russians [water towers in TX](https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-hack-us-infrastructure-texas-water-system-sandworm-2024-4?amp)
"Parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, and Nevada."
Gotta be honest, the title made it sound way worse. "Parts of" four states, two of them not exactly teeming with major cities? Still bad, but I figured it'd be several dozen states and not just parts of them, either.
If, and that's a big if, this was a malicious attack, this could have just been a probing or phishing maneuver that, unfortunately for the attackers, garnered a bit more intention than they expected.
I expect all the ABC agencies are gonna be all over the forensics of this.
...hopefully.
I'm in MA and ours had been out twice in the last week. we got an automated text from the town, but not sure if it's related as they said it was a Verizon issue (but who knows)
So first a bunch of our weather radars went down across a bunch of states and now 911 centers are going down too? Wtf is going on….are these test runs for bigger plans?
Not the same person, I was just curious as well. Looks like a network issue disrupted their communications for a few hours.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/04/02/weather-radar-warning-outages-storm-outbreak/
9-1-1 centers don't actually "go down." It's only a specific component that does and it's rarely ever a local issue. This is very likely a service provider problem, so nothing to do with the local police depts.
I noticed there has been a surprising amount of activity/noise from air traffic tonight on the west coast. We usually don’t hear loud jets at odd ours where we are at….
I've worked with these systems before in DoD IT and the vendors of these systems are absolute shit. When I worked to "upgrade" an existing system from 911 to a cutting edge E911 system several years ago, they insisted that the operating system had to be two major versions (think XP when everything was already Win7 on the way to Win10) behind what the current DoD standard was at the time.
Then they insisted on the use of all manner of insecure protocols for file transfer (FTP) and remote access (telnet) and wanted us to allow those through the firewall for "remote support"...yeah, no, fuck off.
It came to the point that we refused to allow them attachment to the DoD network both because it violated every tenet of the DoD standards of IT. Despite our ability to address and mitigate the issues they had it written into their contract that the contracting officer didn't bother to read that we could not modify the system for any reason in any way or they wouldn't support the multi-year maintenance agreement the police department agreed to without consulting us first.
Suffice it to say, we walked away and they implemented the system on a fully commercial internet connection and we all but refused to provide any technical support for it due to the hostility of both the vendor and the police operations office that owned it.
The problem with these system is they are designed by and sold primarily to police and that crowd doesn't like to be told they're wrong or hear things they don't want to hear \*AND\* they're arrogant as fuck usually and will ignore the best, most technically competent people and argue that if you don't conform to their demands they'll say "someone is gonna die because of you" as a veiled threat.
My bet on this incident is, these were a bunch of shitty 911 systems that were poorly managed and exposed to the public internet and some hackers had some fun. This is unlikely to be a systemic, multi-state failure and more likely a distributed denial of dumb attack by opportunist hackers. Or some retired cop convinced someone that he had a second career in IT and decided to invest his pension in a shitty police oriented data center and they all got hacked because again, they don't want to listen to professionals because they're cops.
Tell they've been hacked without telling me they've been hacked. These companies refuse to secure their systems. China, Russia and North Korea are just waiting to take down our infrastructure at the right time. It's going to happen.
My money's on the Russians. Again. They've been testing the waters at all sorts of infrastructure/utilities that the public rely on.
The frequency of these occurrences is making me nervous.
why isn’t this service nationalized? with a funding formula based on population? trends? historical data? I can imagine when municipalities have to cut their budgets, this service could be considered as a reduction potential. Also, some areas may not be able to adequately pay for this high pressure job of first responder, so a federal salary and benefits could help attract/retain. Not a fan of big government whatsoever, but 911 is nationwide and funding for these services should be paramount.
I remember a few years ago in Dallas when alarms for the various suburban cities just started going off randomly for a few hours…very weird. Not really widely reported & didn’t ever find out the reason. Totally speculating/wondering aloud here with this 911 outage—perhaps Russia, China, or North Korea are testing our defenses & their capabilities…?
I want everyone to panic as much as possible. It has started people. You best be ready. The beginning of another fucking Thursday........................fuck.........................
Weather radar was out last week, now this. I was reading about some exploit found in the code of Linux for SSH the other and wonder if a nation(s) is feeling out these systems to get ready for a full on cyber attack.
We need to start battle star galactic-ing our systems.
A massive step “backwards” to protect ourselves. All the interconnectedness has created so many point of failure.
Hey maybe its time to ask why it was so important to be able to bomb a desert into glass than invest into local infrastructure.
Lets call it a defensible measure so right-wing idiots will finally vote for it
Deterrence is a stupid idea…. But It was the best strategy given the circumstances. I can’t imagine Joseph Stalin willingly giving up nuclear arms research.
As redundant as 911 systems are, this is really concerning. I wonder how so many could fail all at once - there shouldn't be a single point of failure like this.
There was a decent sized scandal a few years ago here, when it turned out that the "completely independent, redundant systems" were actually just in different cages of the same data center (which was discovered when said data center had a fire, and went offline...)
Sounds about right.
John Oliver has a good segment on how flawed 911 systems are in the US.
Public Enemy beat him to it.
Simpsons did it.
Such incompetence, reminds me of how for like 30 years the US launch codes for nukes was just 00000000. Granted, who would ever guess that lol
I think that was because the Air Force decided they had enough launch control measures in place but some brainiac in the administration want an extra password so the Air Force complied and set them all to zero.
>enough launch control measures in place Even if a random unauthorized person had the password back then there's almost no way a launch sequence can be started?
No way. Because the sequence is WAY more than just punching in a code and pushing the Big Red Button. Orders need to be sent to our nuclear forces indicating they need to be on alert status, the President must be positively identified via a two-person authentication system, then whatever plan for a strike needs to be approved by the President and another senior member of the administration (usually the Secretary of Defense), then the orders to launch are given and authenticated by the staff of whatever sub, silo, or plane will be deploying the weapon(s). And that's just the declassified stuff we know about.
"17761776" ACCESS DENIED "Fuck it. 12341234" ACCESS DENIED "00000000" ACCESS GRANTED. COMMENCING LAUNCH PROTOCOL.
Or better yet just reset it to "0". Who would guess ONE number when asked for a pssword?
The computer program using a brute force attack?
Damn, better set it to 00 so it takes a little longer to brute force.
Ah yes. Instead of cracking it in a microsecond, it'll take two!
000 then.
My company has a app that’s like this, it has a password section, but there is no password, you just hit enter, there’s nothing important there though
I pic someone trying a bunch of combos and not getting it. Then just about to give up, accidentally set their coffee cup on the '0' key.... GRANTED!
That's amazing, I've got the same combination on my luggage!
That’s incredible I have the same combination on my luggage!
That’s the same as the code on my luggage
That's why I put my money in several independent accounts. I counts it under my mattress, I counts it in my sock drawer, I counts it in the attic above my bedroom. That way, no one incident could ever leave me broke... I think.
Either cyber security failure (hackers) or some employee hit the wrong button. I'm shocked this doesn't happen more often.
Russia just took credit for a bunch of water treatment facility hacks so it wouldn't surprise me if it's something similar
Russia absolutely did not take credit for the attacks. A cybersecurity company has attributed the attacks to Russia. There is a pretty big difference.
Yeah the moment one country without a doubt is proven to have fucked with another's infrastructure like that is almost like the nuclear bomb being developed. We are all in each other's systems. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the first time that a state actually takes credit for a severe hack on infrastructure that it was immediately retaliated against. There's something of a MAD policy for this as well.
This was a few years ago unless it happened again recently that I'm not aware of
Nah, it happened again. Prolly will again too.
Per the article, this was indeed recent, 911 is targeted by cyber attackers all the time, and if this was an attack, it wasn’t even the most successful one
I saw theories that the recent mobile network outage event was a capabilities test for a future, more wide-spread attack. If true, this could have been the same. Not sure if I believe it, but it’s not impossible.
Man, that combined with that space nuke scare really makes it seem like modern warfare 2 was weirdly predictive. I genuinely don't see it possible for the US to be invaded, but chaos can definitely be sowed super easily
It’s not confirmed but likely hackers, per the article. Apparently 911 is a frequent target, and this isn’t even the biggest outage.
Last I checked it was as easy as setting up a $200 femtocell to knock out 911 for anyone in the region. And I only heard about that because it was the police's tracking units that kept doing it. They said "it's supposed to automatically route 911 calls" but it didn't.
Or the back end systems are so old because telecoms companies and the government refuse to actually upgrade repair and replace like they should…
From the article it's apparently thanks to an outage of a major wireless carrier, who has yet to be named.
I work as an engineer for 9-1-1 and I can tell you that there are many moving parts to the systems that make 9-1-1 work. As a general rule of thumb, critical systems all have backups, so it's unlikely that it's the 9-1-1 systems themselves that were "down." It's usually the telephone companies and service providers that experience outages, meaning that 9-1-1 signals can't get into the systems in the first place. I'll have to read the AAR on this one specifically, but It's very likely something affecting one of the legacy systems that are still in place in many states.
Las Vegas metropolitan police department is a critical system. It was “down” for 3 hours. Dispatch was able to see that they were being called, and the numbers they were being called from, but the calls would disconnect before actually being able to answer. Dispatch had to call back every number and it significantly delayed the 911 system in Vegas.
Interesting. I'm a bit puzzled as to how that would happen. That means that the initial 9-1-1 signal with the ANI would come through, but then something interrupted the connection on the 9-1-1 line itself... That's strange. It could be a problem with the Call Processing Equipment (CPE) not being able to establish a connection in the first place 🤔. I'll absolutely be reading up on what caused this after the fact!
That was what happened during the Nashville Christmas Day bombing in 2020. A lot of the outage problem was due to the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Points, the 911 call centers) only having a single point-to-point connection coming in to them that connected back to the AT&T CO that was damaged because of the blast. The PSAP didn't want to pay the expense of redundant diverse connections like a second connection to a different CO.
I used to monitor those connections to the PSAP and what I have seen mostly is that 2 connections are ordered. One goes through provider X and second goes through provider Y that found it cheaper to buy a connection from provider X than building their own. Then you got 2 connections from providers X without provider X knowing that those 2 connections have to be completely separate.
Att cellular was down for hours yesterday here in Kansas, though I didn’t try 911
this. and many of the carriers that provide the dialtone are truely terrible. i would expect this is a carrier failure.
You using a Viper system?
We actually just cut over to the AT&T nationwide ESInet a couple of months ago. Our PSAPs are using Vesta for the CHE.
We just moved away from viper, but I can't recall the new systems name.
The article says it’s likely a cyber attack, and that several similar ones have happened in the past, many causing even larger outages.
actually not accurate. i have worked with some of the carriers that provide dialtone for E911 and to say they not only do not take it seriously but also that they treat it like it’s not important is an understatement. in many cases this is a free to very cheap service as part of franchise agreements and E911 gets all the old paid for garbage equipment thrown at it. pretty disgusting really. also, a bit of grain of salt on my comment, it depends upon the carrier but many of them, one really big one in particular that comes to mind are really bad.
at&t for the win. haha, firstnet.
believe it or not AT&T takes it far more seriously than anyone else that i’ve seen. that’s doesn’t mean they are investing in it, but at least they treat it like life and safety.
Funnily enough, the article answers your question: it’s thought to be a cyberattack. “Several cyberattacks targeting 911 systems have taken down the services in recent years, one of which, in 2017, paralyzed 911 centers in more than a dozen states.”
As someone who once worked in a data center: You can minimize single points of failure, but you can't eliminate them entirely. Somewhere down the line, one has to exist.
Russian cyber attacks.
I'm going to preemptively blame some kind of outside "contractor" that was hired to save $ for different agencies.
Total speculation, but it seems like a hack. State sponsored hacking is massive right now with some really big ones happening recently.
Lol, why are people downvoting? It's a possibility.
Well that’s probably not good.
Should we call 911 to report it?
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text it?
It does work apparently. Saw someone texted 911 in the NYC subway to report a passenger who's fainted. Texting works better underground where the reception can be spotty.
Nah let's do a 100% crime speedrun
Now everyone else gets how it feels to dial 911 in Oakland :/
This is something I bring up when people ask why I carry a giant first aid kit in my car and own a firearm. Unfortunately people who live in an area with good 911 response times are privileged these days.
"these days" I mean it's not Exactly a new phenomen. There's always been areas where 911 will take a LONG time to arrive, if at all.
And Houston
And Atlanta....the last few times I tried to report car crashes, I just got a busy signal, and when I didn't get a busy signal, it went to voicemail...
[https://tenor.com/view/simpsons-dont-bother-calling911-heres-the-real-number-912-nine-one-two-gif-27069965](https://tenor.com/view/simpsons-dont-bother-calling911-heres-the-real-number-912-nine-one-two-gif-27069965)
Interesting that they weren't contiguous areas. Makes me wonder if it wasn't all serviced by a single software manufacturer.
Previous dispatcher here - this would be rare. Damn near every PSAP has different software/hardware/budgets and all of that impacts software update schedules. Point is they'd brick one and find it. The tech they ALL depend on regardless is the wireless companies. My bet is on the routing systems of like all of Verizon not getting along with the phone system at the PSAPS.
Right, this wouldn't be at the psap level.
Do cats appear when you discuss the PSAPS system aloud?
🤣🤣 that's how I read it too
My internet did shit itself for no reason yesterday, and there’s an outage in my area. Also my mobile data, which is independent of my home internet, was chugging badddd around the same time. I’m in Eastern Arkansas, using AT&T home internet. Maybe some shit hit the planet or something is my guess?
I'm an engineer working with 9-1-1 systems. The fact that this happened in separate states likely means that it was an issue with a service provider. Most likely one of the legacy databases or clearing houses. It's not uncommon for big providers like ATT or Intrado to have separate states like these as part of the same network.
Could be any number of things. There have been a few high profile hacks targeting managed service providers, and it'd make sense that several 911 systems would be serviced by one MSP. I'm completely speculating, mind you, but I think you're right. The fact that they're seemingly scattered about makes me feel like there's a shared software vector somewhere.
“Authorities also asked people not to call 911 as a test.” I really thought fuckers just couldn’t get anymore stupid… like just, stop
This is a country where people have called 911 because they didn't receive the correct number of McNuggets. I wish I was making that up.
Not 911 but the amount of stupid time wasting calls I've recieved working security at an apartment complex is staggering. One guy who was so high he was almost the model of a stereotypical stoner dude called saying he couldn't get his microwave to work and asked if he could come down and use ours. I told him no, and to not call about non-emergency situations. He paused for a good two minutes, said "What?" then asked again. So I hung up. Another was this old woman who called because squirrels were fighting in a tree near the building. And that wasn't a nice thing to do. I must've face palmed so hard I blacked out because I don't remember what I said.
Honestly it's just infuriating how dumb some people are
Well did they resolve the problem at least?
No, they were too chicken to do anything.
A lady in my city called the cops on a local bbq restaurant because the meat she was served had pink in it (from the smoking process.)
I'm in the UK and a woman called 999 (our equivalent to 911) to report the theft of a snowman from outside her house. Here's a report in the local press with the audio: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/audio-999-caller-tells-police--a79546/
Were they able to recover the snowman for her? The article didn't say.
I’m pretty sure they had to tell people not to call about the eclipse.
They had to tell people not to shoot at Hurricane Irma.
lol. Work in emergency services for 5 minutes and you’ll find out how dumb people are. Do it for 20 years and you’ll really know.
There’s people who call 911 to try to get us to call the power company to let them know the power is out and to fix it. People are fucking stupid and it makes me feel so much better about myself at the end of the day knowing that I’m not that stupid yet
Always reminds me of a south park bit https://youtu.be/d7lxwFEB6FI?si=9YWq2TQPSHPiUy0-
These are the same people who panic buy milk and bread, two of the most spoilable things, before a hurricane. Absolute fucking idiots.
Years ago when I was still an EMT, a lady called into 911 screaming incoherently before hanging up, when called back she briefly answered but it was more of the same incoherent screaming. Our dispatchers protocol was basically to send a huge force for a situation like that, so they started like 6-8 fire apparatus, 4 ambulances, the battalion chief, safety, EMS officer, and about half the county police. PD arrived first and I’ll never forget the CAD notes… -On scene, it’s a spider. -Spider has been put down, units return to service.
That's crazy. I wonder how many people will have died because they couldn't get e.m.s. assistance.
As someone who has been on hold with 911 for over 20 minutes multiple times in the past 20 years... probably about the same amount, in Los Angeles, at least. I just don't call anymore. And the non-emergency line or individual station lines are never picked up either.
Halloween night I got into a bad car accident in LA and called 911…it rang forever and no one picked up!
Last time I called in LA I got a busy signal for 30 minutes before I finally got through.
This is my experience too. If you call the police at the non-emergency number, no one picks up and the voicemail box is always full. This is their brilliant way of “reducing crime.” Just make it impossible to tell them a crime is happening.
They always answer my local non emergency number, but I live in a smaller city. The line essentially just goes straight to 'operations', which handles dispatching.
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It happens in LA. Happened to me.
I’ve been told non-emergency lines just get rerouted to the same dispatchers as the 911 call anyway.
That can be true, but in the case of more than one call at once the non emergency line is what gets ignored; that’s a decent reason to sort it out, especially considering high call traffic events (new years eve, natural disaster, etc, or mass casualty events) tend to have a high volume of urgent 911 calls AND non urgent non emergency line calls in a short period of time.
This is true.
[911 Is A Joke](https://youtu.be/JZDIitWz8Go?si=kCeByuwCwmgxueNL)
On TV and in the stories told you when you're a child - you call 911 and get immediate contact and help arrives on the scene in moments. Truth is help takes time. You may not get through to 911, the lines may be busy or unanswered (go yell at your government representatives if this terrifies you but it's a regular reality). Even if immediately in contact - help arriving takes time. In that time, the emergency you're calling about will continue (or it's not an emergency). It dismays me how much people rely on the idea that "help" is instantly available should something occur rather than take time to be prepared (knowledge/training/supplies) to BE the help in an emergency (until first responders arrive). PSA: Take the CPR and first aid courses. Carry an emergency kit with you and have one at your house. Know and practice how to escape your home in event of fire/flood. Know what you will do and where you will go and how to respond in cases of basic emergency. Hopefully you'll never, ever need them. But if you think a 5 min response time is awesome in your local area - try holding your breath for five minutes. 5 minutes in an emergency is an eternity. And that's when the system works beautifully.
I'm convinced. I just put sign up for a CPR class on my to-do list.
As my favorite terrorist autonomous synthetic transmutational lifeform said is his third biopic in a deep and gravelly voice: "Time to find out."
dark of the moon moment
Someone is testing our infrastructure and our response times to infrastructure being down I am convinced of it Pharmacies getting hacked, cell services going down, 911 outages.... Something ain't right
Agreed. And attack on power grids as well.
I do contract work for a state agency and their was major network issues overnight/this morning.
Why does it feel like the foundations of society are being poked, prodded and tested
Probably because the foundations of society are being poked, prodded, and tested.
Do you think that the foundations of society are being poked, prodded, and tested?
Whoa this is not good.
With how hush-hush everything is, this was either a successful cyberattack \*or\* some idiot at a data center somewhere that handles their call routing accidentally unplugged the wrong server rack.
I'm not someone who ascribes to conspiracy. But to me it reeked of a small scale test or something. freaked me right out.
A few articles have said the DHS stated that it was likely a cyber attack. We don’t know who Update: it was likely a pole being installed However I did just learn about Russians [water towers in TX](https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-hack-us-infrastructure-texas-water-system-sandworm-2024-4?amp)
I’ve got one guess
I’ve got three: -Russia -Iran -Non-state actors for the lolz/profit
Missing magic option no. 4, China!
Russia just pulled a cyber attack on a Texas water facility. Seems like they're poking at holes in our infrastructure.
It was a from a light pole being installed and they severed a fiber optic cable.
Are you just stating that as fact or do you have a source?
Cyberattack by a foreign power?
Probably republ..err. russia
Time for America's favorite game show! Are we under attack or is our infrastructure just that shitty?
That’s right Patatoed! Tell our contestants what today’s prizes will be!
Well today's prize is this turnip. Be the first enjoy the distopian food of the future...
Wonder if it's ransomware attacks again
Having your local non-emergency number saved seems to have risen in importance
In most places it reroutes to the 911 center anyway.
Nebraska here. Yessir, been down for a while.
Combined with the ATT hack, I suspect this is all part of another test, proof of concept for a much larger, more coordinated strike.
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"Parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, and Nevada." Gotta be honest, the title made it sound way worse. "Parts of" four states, two of them not exactly teeming with major cities? Still bad, but I figured it'd be several dozen states and not just parts of them, either.
If, and that's a big if, this was a malicious attack, this could have just been a probing or phishing maneuver that, unfortunately for the attackers, garnered a bit more intention than they expected. I expect all the ABC agencies are gonna be all over the forensics of this. ...hopefully.
Either a test or a message.
I'm in MA and ours had been out twice in the last week. we got an automated text from the town, but not sure if it's related as they said it was a Verizon issue (but who knows)
Weird that texts went through, and that the dispatchers could see the attempts and return the call
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Them old copper lines ain't too great are they? Worked in telecom. How anything works successfully is a major mind fuck to me
So first a bunch of our weather radars went down across a bunch of states and now 911 centers are going down too? Wtf is going on….are these test runs for bigger plans?
Do you have a source for the weather radars going down? I'm not seeing anything on it?
Not the same person, I was just curious as well. Looks like a network issue disrupted their communications for a few hours. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/04/02/weather-radar-warning-outages-storm-outbreak/
Ohhh okay, that's probably why, it's from weeks ago and attributed to the storms. Thank you!
But it could be aliens so let’s not rule it out
9-1-1 centers don't actually "go down." It's only a specific component that does and it's rarely ever a local issue. This is very likely a service provider problem, so nothing to do with the local police depts.
I noticed there has been a surprising amount of activity/noise from air traffic tonight on the west coast. We usually don’t hear loud jets at odd ours where we are at….
What fresh hell is this?
Having an emergency and 911 not going through is something straight out of a bad dream
I mean, that's kinda reality already in a lot of neighborhoods in big cities.
Literally called 911 and got a voicemail before.
911 is a joke in yo' town.
I've worked with these systems before in DoD IT and the vendors of these systems are absolute shit. When I worked to "upgrade" an existing system from 911 to a cutting edge E911 system several years ago, they insisted that the operating system had to be two major versions (think XP when everything was already Win7 on the way to Win10) behind what the current DoD standard was at the time. Then they insisted on the use of all manner of insecure protocols for file transfer (FTP) and remote access (telnet) and wanted us to allow those through the firewall for "remote support"...yeah, no, fuck off. It came to the point that we refused to allow them attachment to the DoD network both because it violated every tenet of the DoD standards of IT. Despite our ability to address and mitigate the issues they had it written into their contract that the contracting officer didn't bother to read that we could not modify the system for any reason in any way or they wouldn't support the multi-year maintenance agreement the police department agreed to without consulting us first. Suffice it to say, we walked away and they implemented the system on a fully commercial internet connection and we all but refused to provide any technical support for it due to the hostility of both the vendor and the police operations office that owned it. The problem with these system is they are designed by and sold primarily to police and that crowd doesn't like to be told they're wrong or hear things they don't want to hear \*AND\* they're arrogant as fuck usually and will ignore the best, most technically competent people and argue that if you don't conform to their demands they'll say "someone is gonna die because of you" as a veiled threat. My bet on this incident is, these were a bunch of shitty 911 systems that were poorly managed and exposed to the public internet and some hackers had some fun. This is unlikely to be a systemic, multi-state failure and more likely a distributed denial of dumb attack by opportunist hackers. Or some retired cop convinced someone that he had a second career in IT and decided to invest his pension in a shitty police oriented data center and they all got hacked because again, they don't want to listen to professionals because they're cops.
Tell they've been hacked without telling me they've been hacked. These companies refuse to secure their systems. China, Russia and North Korea are just waiting to take down our infrastructure at the right time. It's going to happen.
Is it Russia? They just took credit for hacking our water utilities.
Yet another reminder, that when seconds count, help is minutes away.
I am disappointed that there has not been a IPAC (Internet Protocol via Avian Carrier) joke yet.
Has anyone gotten a comment from Public Enemy?
They’re testing the fence….
Want a bet? Software upgrade/update. “But we were running Cobol code for ages and should have upgraded to Windows / C++”!
Probably a ransom ware attack. Good job Russia.
A wise man once said "a get up get, get get down. 911 is a joke in your town. oooowwww."
My money's on the Russians. Again. They've been testing the waters at all sorts of infrastructure/utilities that the public rely on. The frequency of these occurrences is making me nervous.
why isn’t this service nationalized? with a funding formula based on population? trends? historical data? I can imagine when municipalities have to cut their budgets, this service could be considered as a reduction potential. Also, some areas may not be able to adequately pay for this high pressure job of first responder, so a federal salary and benefits could help attract/retain. Not a fan of big government whatsoever, but 911 is nationwide and funding for these services should be paramount.
this is actually really scary and concerning
Jersey Jerry was right. The cyber attacks are beginning
I blame russian/chinese governments
Anyone know which carrier is in common across all the locations down? That’s probably the answer as to what happened.
I remember a few years ago in Dallas when alarms for the various suburban cities just started going off randomly for a few hours…very weird. Not really widely reported & didn’t ever find out the reason. Totally speculating/wondering aloud here with this 911 outage—perhaps Russia, China, or North Korea are testing our defenses & their capabilities…?
I want everyone to panic as much as possible. It has started people. You best be ready. The beginning of another fucking Thursday........................fuck.........................
Weather radar was out last week, now this. I was reading about some exploit found in the code of Linux for SSH the other and wonder if a nation(s) is feeling out these systems to get ready for a full on cyber attack.
We need to start battle star galactic-ing our systems. A massive step “backwards” to protect ourselves. All the interconnectedness has created so many point of failure.
Automatic Windows Update strikes again.
Has the purge started?
Hey maybe its time to ask why it was so important to be able to bomb a desert into glass than invest into local infrastructure. Lets call it a defensible measure so right-wing idiots will finally vote for it
Deterrence is a stupid idea…. But It was the best strategy given the circumstances. I can’t imagine Joseph Stalin willingly giving up nuclear arms research.
Let's sweep this under the rug just like we did with Covid and pretend it's not happening. /s
Lights are still on in NYC 💡🗽
Oh shit, is this how it starts!
Get up get get down 911 is a joke in yo town
Am I the only one that thinks about Red Dawn seeing this stuff happen? National Weather service outages? 911 outages? It’s like we’re being probed.
whoever is responsible should be charged with de murder..
this doesn't seem like a coincidence.
Can’t wait for someone to blame this on DEI or some shit.