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Officials blame firewall malfunction for 911 outage
Officials said they have not received any reports of emergencies that were impacted by the 911 outage.
Massachusetts officials released an explanation Wednesday for the 911 outage that impacted the statewide system this week.
An investigation found that the disruption was caused by a firewall that prevented 911 dispatch centers from receiving calls, according to the State 911 Department. Typically, firewalls are meant to protect against cyberattacks. The specific reasons that the firewall malfunctioned in this way are still being reviewed. The outage was not caused by any sort of cyberattack or hack, officials said.
The system was down from about 1:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday, causing officials to hastily communicate to residents other options for reporting emergencies like using red call boxes or the administrative phone numbers for police and fire stations. A statewide emergency alert was also sent to residents’ phones.
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The 911 system has since been restored to full functionality.
The State 911 Department said that it has not received any reports of emergencies that were affected by the outage. Despite the firewall blocking calls, dispatchers still had the ability to see the phone numbers of those trying to contact them, and they could then return those calls.
State officials immediately worked to address the problem with Comtech, a global company that serves as the 911 vendor in Massachusetts. Last month, Comtech announced that it had agreed to a new, five-year contract with the state. The company has been developing and managing the state’s “Next Generation 911” system since 2014. That technology has been touted for its accuracy in pinpointing where a 911 call is coming from and alerting first responders quickly.
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“Built on a secure cloud architecture, the Comtech NG911 system provides superior reliability, redundancy, and sustainability to accommodate emergency communications for the state,” the company said in a release last month.
The ongoing investigation into the outage is being conducted by both Comtech and the State 911 Department.
“As the full review of the cause continues, Comtech has advised State 911 that they have applied a technical solution to ensure that this does not happen again,” officials said in a release Wednesday.
Massachusetts has 204 dispatch centers for 911 calls. They received an average of 8,800 calls a day in 2023.
“The Massachusetts State 911 Department is deeply committed to providing reliable, state-of-the-art 911 services to all Massachusetts residents and visitors in an emergency. The Department will take all necessary steps to prevent a future occurrence,” Executive Director Frank Pozniak said in a statement. “We are grateful to everyone for their patience and cooperation during the outage.”
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