The statewide 911 outage on Tuesday was caused by a firewall security system built into the emergency notification network, according to a preliminary finding by the state.
The Massachusetts 911 Department and the service’s third-party managing contractor, Comtech, determined that a firewall prevented calls from going through the system for two hours on Tuesday, from approximately 1:15-3:15 p.m., according to an update from the department.
“Comtech’s initial review of the incident has confirmed that the interruption was not the result of a cyberattack or hack,” the department said in a statement.
“The firewall prevented calls from getting to the 911 dispatch centers also known as Public Safety Answer Points (PSAPs),” the state said in a release on the outage.
Exactly why the system’s firewall security blocked calls, however, remains under investigation.
After an unrelated event Wednesday, Gov. Maura Healey said she “was not suggesting fault at all” on the part of Comtech, the third-party vendor that manages the state’s 911 system.
“We have got a handle on it now, and we’re going to make sure that the vendor and the equipment and the software is where it needs to be in order to ensure the safety and well being of our residents,” she told reporters just outside the State House.
The 911 Department said it was not aware of any emergencies that went unattended as a result of the outage.
“Although some calls may not have gone through, the system allows dispatch centers to identify the phone number of callers and return those calls. The Department has not received any reports of emergencies impacted during the interruption,” the update continued.
“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. “We are grateful to everyone for their patience and cooperation during the outage.”
Boston Police alerted city residents when the 911 service went down, advising them to call stations directly, or “If you are experiencing an emergency please pull a Fire Box.”
The Massachusetts disruption caused confusion in other northeastern states, where some residents also got notifications on their phones. But authorities in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York and Vermont all said their systems were operational.
“We are aware that some individuals in Vermont have received wireless notifications about the Massachusetts event,” Barbara Neal, executive director of the Vermont Enhanced 911 Board, said. “The official reason for that is unknown but it may be related to individuals having signed up for an alerting system in Massachusetts or having been at or near the Massachusetts border when the wireless alert was issued by Massachusetts.”
— Material from Herald wire services contributed to this report
