Bucks 911 Communications Center Back Online After Outage

IVYLAND BOROUGH, PA —Bucks County's 911 Communications Center, which was crippled by a recent cyber attack, is back online following a nine-day outage.

The Bucks County Department of Emergency Communications said that it restored core functionality of its computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems Tuesday afternoon, allowing emergency telecommunicators to use the automated system for the first time since Jan. 21.

That's when a ransomware "Akira" attack brought the system fully offline.

Dispatchers in the interim relied on backup systems to document and dispatch calls for service. At no point during the outage were the county’s 911 call-taking abilities interrupted, officials said.

The county and its partners will monitor restored systems for threats or other technical issues while the Emergency Communications and Information Technology departments work toward full CAD restoration.

Also restored is the county’s connectivity to state and federal databases containing criminal justice information.

“We here at Emergency Services cannot say enough about the kindness, professionalism, and patience our first responder community has extended to us during this outage —especially to our 911 dispatchers who have been working extra hard,” said Emergency Services Director Audrey Kenny.

“With some of the weight lifted from our dispatchers, we now look forward to working with our partner agencies to restore their full access to these critical tools as quickly and safely as we possibly can,” Kenny said.

The path forward, Kenny noted, will emphasize network security. As of Tuesday, a timeline for full restoration had not been established.