Why have a landline? 911 calls one reason

Need to call 911?  Landline calls pop up instantly to operators with the caller’s name and address.  Cellphone calls only  include a rudimentary location and rarely a name.

On Oct. 25 and 26, 911 centers in a dozen or so U.S. states from California to Texas were overwhelmed by what investigators now believe was the largest ever cyber attack of the country’s emergency response system.

The U.S. emergency system, not a single system, consists of roughly 6,500 separate answering systems run by local authorities with a hodgepodge of technology.

Onky 420 of the 6,500 centers had implemented a cyber security system as of 2015.  In 38 states no money was spent in 2015 for cybersecurity for 911 centers.

Much of the 911 system relies on copper telephone lines a helpful defense against cyber attacks which usually need an internet connectivity.  Smart phones pose a new type of risk as each is essentially a web-enabled computer that can be compromised by malicious software.

An 18 year old youth, Meetkumar Desal, successfully hacked into a loophole in the  the Apple  iPhone operating system iOS.  He currently is charged with four felony charges of computer tampering.

Apple says that a forthcoming system update of the iPhone will plug the loophole that made the attack possible.

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Monterey Bay Forum:  Why not ‘sentence’ that 18 year old iPhone hacker to community service time that will strengthen cyber security.  Use his skills!