Statewide 911 outage was caused by 911 vendor's malfunctioning firewall

A faulty firewall at a 911 vendor, Comtech, caused a two-hour statewide outage in Massachusetts, blocking emergency calls from reaching dispatch centers. The outage was not due to a cyberattack but rather a malfunction in the safety feature meant to protect against cyber threats. Despite the interruption, the system allowed dispatch centers to identify callers and return missed calls. The State 911 Department is conducting a full review to prevent future incidents. Comtech, which has been providing public safety technology for over 25 years, recently extended its contract with Massachusetts. Such 911 disruptions are not uncommon, with past incidents caused by issues like network outages or technical errors. The state government has assured residents that steps will be taken to avoid similar incidents in the future.