Suburban counties say they are revising their cybersecurity after Bucks County was hit with a cyber attack over the weekend. That attack targeted the counties computer-aided dispatch system. NBC10’s Deanna Durante has an update on the impact this has on those who call into the 911 center.
Law enforcement officials in Bucks County are working to restore services to its computer-aided dispatch system, or CAD system, after a cyberattack on Sunday crippled the service.
However, county officials said 9-1-1 services remain operational and first responders are relying on phone and radio communication as the county investigates the incident.
In an alert sent out by the Bucks County Department of Emergency Communications on Monday night, officials said the CAD system has been down since Sunday afternoon and it currently remains out of service.
In fact, as of Tuesday, there is no projected timeframe for when these services might resume.
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The utility impacted is a computer-aided dispatch system that -- according to the Department of Homeland Security -- enables "dispatchers, call- takers, and 911 operators to prioritize and record incident calls, identify the status and location of responders in the field, and effectively dispatch responder personnel."
Without this system, Bucks County officials said that the county has lost automated services powered by CAD and law enforcement officials cannot access databases for the Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network nor the National Crime Information Center.
Officials said they are working with state and federal partner agencies to assist in the investigation into Sunday's cybersecurity incident and, the county's IT department is working to get the systems back online as soon as possible.
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And, the county's 9-1-1 services are fully operational, a county representative told NBC10, even while the CAD system is offline.
The county has said it will provide updates as soon as they become available.
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