Firewall to deter cyberattacks is blamed for Massachusetts 911 outage

By MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — State officials say a firewall aimed at thwarting hackers is to blame for a 911 outage in Massachusetts. The 911 system was out for about two hours on Tuesday afternoon. Authorities advised residents to either pull a fire box or call a police department directly for emergency assistance. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says residents shouldn’t worry about calling the correct number or facility for their emergency and should just reach out to their nearest authorities. Several years ago, Massachusetts suffered sporadic 911 outages. At the time, it was blamed on outages from Louisiana-based CenturyLink, which affected some Verizon customers.