911 centers turn to 'stone age' during software outage

 

ELKHART, Ind.-- Overnight, computers across the globe were crashing and logging out due to a faulty antivirus update from CrowdStrike including at 911 call centers, where dispatchers lost access to their computer-assisted dispatch (CAD) software.

At the Elkhart Communications Center, this meant dispatchers had to go back to the basics: pen and paper.

"We went back to what we call the stone age, where dispatchers were on pen and paper and giving out manual dispatches over the radio instead of being able to use the software that we use to kind of streamline that process," said Dustin McLain, department head for Elkhart City 911 Communications.

They couldn't take calls through their CAD system anymore, relying instead on their backup handheld phones.

"We had backup systems in place so that we were still able to receive emergency and non-emergency calls," McLain said.

He said they made it work, and there were thankfully no consequences for those calling 911. Essentially, he said dispatchers had to go back in time to the 90s, before they had a CAD system.

"It's a very old system but it's foolproof," McLain said. "It's always there, and it's always reliable."

Meanwhile, IT got to work.

"It was 1 a.m. when they called us out for the issue," said Jon Balog, information technician for the City of Elkhart. "We were concerned it may have been a cyber-attack, a cyber event at first, looking into it a little bit further, we realized it was not any breaches or anything, but it was in fact our anti-virus that was tripping up."

CrowdStrike, an antivirus company with Microsoft, had a bad night Thursday, launching a faulty update that put people across the globe offline.

Balog had Elkhart City Dispatch back online by 4 a.m. Friday.

"We had to have our police department, fire department come in separately so we could get them updated, get them up and running, which did take a little bit of extra time," he said. "But it wasn't as big of an issue as just getting the dispatch center up, because they were the core functions for all the public safety, and that was the area we had to get the servers up."

Dispatch was the priority because with or without computers, people need to be able to call for help in an emergency.

"We make sure that we train our dispatchers from beginning to end how to do things manually, as well as use the technology that's ever-changing in 911," McLain said. "So, making sure you have multiple ways to get to that same end result, which is getting the call posted and getting responders on the way."

ABC57 called many of the Michiana-area dispatch centers and most had a similar story of a stressful morning, but backup systems to the rescue.