911 calls and services were out in about six states in the United States including South Dakota, Texas, Nebraska, and Nevada. The reason for the outage of the emergency service was not known but suspicion of cyber attacks from terrorists was not ruled out.
Authorities reported 911 failures Wednesday evening, with some areas now being restored, and asked people not to call 911 to test if it was working in their area.
The South Dakota Department of Public Safety in a statement said they were aware of a 911 service interruption throughout the state.
“Texting to 9-1-1 is operating in most locations. If these methods are not working in your location, citizens can still reach their local police and county sheriff offices emergency services using their non-emergency line,” the department said.
The agency later reported that the emergency response had been restored for South Dakota.
“Our emergency system is fully operational and ready to respond promptly to any situation,” the department said on Facebook. “Your safety is our top priority, and we are here to ensure help is just a call away whenever you need it.”
The Las Vegas police later said their 911 service had been restored, and everyone who called during the outage had been called back and given assistance. Nevada police also said services were back up in the southern part of the state.
The Department of Homeland Security had warned of increased risks of cyber attacks on 911 services after they migrated to digital systems based on Internet Protocol standards.
The US is not alien to cyber attacks targeting its 911 system. In 2017, a cyberattack crashed 911 centers in over a dozen states
