'Akira' Ransomware Blamed For Bucks 911 Communications Center Outage

IVYLAND BOROUGH, PA —Bucks County officials have stated that the ransomware “Akira” is involved in crippling its 911 Communications Center, which has been offline for more than a week.

Officials said in a statement that Bucks County has shared with its local, state, and federal partners that the ransomware “Akira” is involved so that "they can have situational awareness and review their own systems."

All 911 phone and radio systems remain operational at the Ivyland-based communications center as the county makes progress toward restoring the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system.

The county continues to investigate the cybersecurity incident, which has caused an extended outage of the Emergency Communications’ Department’s CAD system.

Although limited information can be shared due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, the county is working closely with its public safety and law enforcement partners, officials said.

The county is also working with third-party experts to conduct a thorough investigation. Additional updates will be provided as appropriate.

The system went offline last Sunday. There is no timetable for when it will come back on line.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, Akira is a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) group that started operations in March 2023.

"The group has targeted multiple sectors, including finance, real estate, manufacturing, and healthcare," says the Dept. of Health and Human Services, noting that the group typically demands ransom payments in these cyberattacks.

It was the second time in a month that the system suffered an outage.

In late December, the Bucks County 911 Communications Center suffered a temporary outage for several hours due to technical issues.