911 outage was caused by firewall issue, says officials
BOSTON, Mass. (WLNE) — Massachusetts state officials say a 911 outage that happened yesterday was due to a firewall issue.
Several agencies across the state put out notices Tuesday afternoon sharing that their 911 lines were down due to a “technical issue affecting public safety answering points.”
In a social media post, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security shared a release on Twitter that an investigation by the State 911 Department and Comtech determined that the cause of the outage was due to a firewall issue, which is designed to provide support against cyberattacks and hacking.
According to the release, Comtech has advised State 911 that they have applied a technical solution to ensure that this does not happen again as a full review of the incident continues.
“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,” said Executive Director of the State 911 Department Frank Pozniak in a statement.
“We are grateful to everyone for their patience and cooperation during the outage,” he said.
☎️Update: Mass State 911 Department has determined that a firewall caused the statewide disruption to the 911 system on June 18.
State 911 is grateful for the public’s patience and cooperation and thanks state and local emergency response agencies for their swift response.
— Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (@EOPSS) June 19, 2024
