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GOOD GRIEF: SNIPPED FROM ARTICLE
North Sound 911 Service Repeatedly Targeted
Chris Halsne KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter

POSTED: 2:18 PM PST October 31, 2003
UPDATED: 2:48 PM PST October 31, 2003

A KIRO Team 7 Investigation has uncovered disturbing details of a plot to disrupt all telephone, computer and cell service to the North Sound.

Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne proves our most precious infrastructures are still vulnerable to attack.

The FBI won't tell you this, but we will: For the past two years, federal investigators have been trying to catch a criminal who has repeatedly tapped into a major fiber optics cable north of Seattle.

This person hasn't been randomly chopping entire bundles of cables, but rather he or she is using surgical precision to black out one particular 911 emergency call center.

Early in the morning of Sept. 3, some criminal strolled into a Qwest Telecommunications server station with tools in hand and carefully sliced one strand of wire.

For the next 8 hours and 41 minutes Whatcom County, Bellingham and northern Snohomish County lost all telecommunications. Even 911 service was disconnected.

"If phone lines go out, somebody could call for help and die as a result of not being able to receive help. We are very concerned," said Bill Eflo, Whatcom County Sheriff.

Operators couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu. KIRO Team 7 Investigators have learned that someone intentionally rerouted, cut or altered 911 service to Whatcom County on three occasions in two years. Each time the criminal entered the same Qwest fiber optics "hut" to create the chaos.

"Communications can be vulnerable if you don't safeguard them," said Chuck Busick.

Busick is a retired Army Special Ops commander and now a telecommunications security expert. He says it's naive for the FBI and Qwest to pretend the series of fiber optics cuts is "vandalism."

"From a special operations perspective, it's called 'probing the target.' Trying to find out what their true vulnerabilities are. Sometimes you hit it the first time, sometimes you don't. So going in and doing multiple tests to make sure this is, in fact, a good way to disrupt the communications system is certainly feasible," said Busick.

While the FBI scrambles to find a suspect, KIRO Team 7 Investigators went to check out security measures at the Qwest routing station.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/2601577/detail.html

Excellent thread. I've been lurking here since the very beginning ... checking in several times a day. I don't post very often, but I just had to jump in here when I saw post 12,618 re: problems with the Seattle 911 emergency call center.

I live just outside Houston and every couple of weeks we hear yet again about the problems with the Houston area 911 emergency call center. I did a quick search and found this article. With the seemingly huge target painted on Reliant Stadium and the Port of Houston ... especially for February 2 ... I thought I might throw this into the mix. I guarantee it will make your hair stand on end.

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Nov. 29, 2003, 2:41PM

911 Call Center Fails Again
Officials unsure what caused computer software crash
By KRISTEN MACK
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

As waves of shoppers flowed toward area malls early Friday, the computer system at the new Houston Emergency Center was swamped by waves of a different kind.

Calls backed up, and the resulting "information bottleneck" caused the second system failure in as many months at the center, although the new director, Sharon Counterman, said it had nothing to do with the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season.

Call takers had to write down information and relay it to police officers and firefighters via radio for almost four hours after the system failed at 8:28 a.m.

While public safety officials said no emergency calls were lost and no one was endangered by the computer crash, critics noted that this was another in a long list of problems since the center opened in September.

"It seems like there is a lack of communication, cooperation and coordination over there," said Johnnie McFarland, vice president of the Houston Police Patrolmen's Union.

"They need a change in management. They haven't addressed technical, operational or personnel issues."

Officials said they were not sure why the computer software failed but should have more answers by Monday. The system was put back into service at 12:23 p.m., and no more problems had been reported as of late Friday.

Counterman, who became the center's first director this month after overseeing communications in the Las Vegas Police Department, said she still has faith in the system. "We never lost any 911 calls," she said. "It was not as efficient, but it was still functional and the public got the service they need and want."

The emergency center was designed to put the city's 911, police, fire and emergency medical services dispatchers under one roof and improve response. But technical problems continue to cause delays, union officials say.

If the system crashes on the busiest shopping day of the year, McFarland said, he questions whether it can withstand the demands of the upcoming Super Bowl in February.

"I can't believe they are going to bring visitors from all over the place and our system isn't ready," he said. "We are the fourth-largest city in the country, and they designed a system to handle Mayberry."

Counterman said she can't guarantee that the system will never fail again, but she added, "I can guarantee that citizens will continue to be served."