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Hacking Blamed for Emergency Sirens Blaring Across Dallas Early Saturday

posted by takyon on Monday April 10 2017, @12:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the ultimate-shouting dept.

fliptop writes:

Starting shortly before midnight Friday, emergency sirens all over the Dallas, Texas started blaring even though there was no emergency:

Rocky Vaz, director of Dallas' Office of Emergency Management, said that all 156 of the city's sirens were activated more than a dozen times.

Officials don't know who was responsible for the hacking, but Vaz said "with a good deal of confidence that this was someone outside our system" and in the Dallas area.

Deactivating the emergency alert system was the only way to stop the sirens:

The system remained shut down Saturday while crews safeguarded it from another hack. The city said the system should be restored Sunday or Monday — in time for thunderstorms that are expected to begin rolling through the area early next week.

[...] Dallas officials said they have begun working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to add an alert system that would send messages to all cellphones in the area when there is an emergency.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @01:39AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @01:39AM (#491428)

    One group telling another group what to do, under pain of violence for noncompliance.

    Coercion is a barbaric, uncivilized, ancient system for organizing society.

    The free market, with consensual contracts between consenting adults with "special" needs, should handle the emergency siren system. Otherwise it is just tyranny!

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  • (Score: 1, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 10 2017, @01:44AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2017, @01:44AM (#491431) Journal

    Someone left a phonograph running with a broken record on it . . . .

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Demena on Monday April 10 2017, @01:49AM

    by Demena (5637) on Monday April 10 2017, @01:49AM (#491433)

    Coercion is a barbaric, uncivilized, ancient system for organizing society.

    Regretfully, it is the only means that has ever worked.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @02:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @02:09PM (#491629)

    And don't you come back.