Shortly before midnight Friday night, hackers activated 156 emergency warning sirens across the City of Dallas. The ordeal for Dallas resident lasted more than one and one-half hours.
Ever wonder what the end of the world feels like? #dallas #sirens pic.twitter.com/dvokKWkZ6N
— ManicPixieDreamGay (@deadlyblonde) April 8, 2017
“We can state at this time that the City’s siren system was hacked Friday night,” Dallas Public Information Office Sana Syed wrote in an official statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “For security reasons, we cannot discuss the details of how this was done, but we do believe that the hack came from the Dallas area.”
The attack on Dallas residents’ sleep began at 11:42 p.m. Friday night, Syed stated. It continued until 1:17 Saturday morning.
Dallas Emergency Warning Siren Network. (Image: City of Dallas)
“Right now our priority is to work on reactivating our system,” the Dallas spokeswoman wrote. “We won’t know the health of our sirens until we reactivate the system.”
She warned the sirens could sound the alarm again during the reactivation and testing process. Dallas officials requested residents not call 911 or 311 to report the sirens during this period.
UPDATE: Dallas city officials said “hack” in system prompted warning sirens to sound off early Saturday morning. pic.twitter.com/IfBnoVIagL
— Mike Forbes (@mikeforbeswfaa) April 8, 2017
“This is yet another serious example of the need for us to upgrade and better safeguard our city’s technology infrastructure,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told reporters at the Dallas Morning News. “It’s a costly proposition, which is why every dollar of taxpayer money must be spent with critical needs such as this in mind. Making the necessary improvements is imperative for the safety of our citizens.”
Twitter users took to the social media airwaves to respond to the hacking event that woke many residents from a sound night’s sleep.
When’s the last time you heard of the #Sirens “malfunctioning” ???
— kylan (@kylandeckard) April 8, 2017
Amy Junod Tweeted:
When #sirens keep going off in Dallas and they keep telling us it’s a malfunction in the system. pic.twitter.com/sfHGQq2beq
— Amy Junod (@AmyJunod) April 8, 2017
Tedford tweeted concern about a possible air attack:
Emergency sirens going off in Dallas going off due to impending air attack.? Take cover!? #Dallas #Sirens
— Tedford (@tehdee) April 8, 2017
So tornado sirens randomly going off all over Dallas. Not a cloud in the sky tonight. Did somebody touch the big red button? #dallas #sirens
— Ted Lawson (@tedlwsn) April 8, 2017
And Allison Chvojan took it all all in good stride with a glass of wine:
Well, honestly if these #sirens are any indication of impending doom, at least I’m going with a bit of a wine buzz on #Dallas
— Allison Chvojan (@allisonchvojan) April 8, 2017
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
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