UPDATE III: So a computer nerd friend told me last night that even if a fiber is cut, there are backups, and if that truly happened the calls would have just been rerouted thru another line which would only take a matter of seconds or minutes, so this is certainly suspicious. Hey Dan, you worked in this industry, is my computer friend correct?
UPDATE II: Looks like they took out a light pole in Kansas. Um, ok.
UPDATE: We are back up, but curious what happened? You wonder if the states effected had the same software glitch and figured it out and shared with other states? Presser tomorrow.
Also, CNN is reporting some locations are blaming cell phone companies for the issue, but are keeping tight lipped about WHAT it exactly was (could have been multiple hack assaults) and HOW they fixed it, and WHAT preventative measures we are implementing forward.
If I can’t even trust the SOS office to properly notify candidates of requirements how can you expect any state or local agency to combat this?
So this is an interesting tidbit for tonight;
They also reported that the outages appear to have impacted additional cities and counties across the US, but the reason for the outages is currently unknown.
Usually if IT can’t fix something within a few hours or even minutes, that usually means there was a hack. The City of Sioux Falls has been worried about this for awhile and have been doing different training with cyber security for city IT employees.
You would think with the programs at DSU they would have someone over there smart enough to combat this.
It will be interesting to see how they fix this. They may have to setup a backup or patch, which could take a few hours to a few days. Cross your fingers and hope you don’t have an emergency.
UPDATES:
The Sun is reporting 8 states are now affected. I have a feeling by morning it will be 20 or more. This is starting to look like a hack.
The Daily Beast has this article from 2017 when something similar happened.
Reuters said this ‘The Department of Homeland Security has warned, of increased risks of cyber attacks on 911 services, as they have migrated to digital, internet-protocol based systems.’