Cyber Incident Victim: Daily Tribune
Date:
Aug 2024
Location:
United States of America
Summary
A cyberattack targeting AT&T's network disrupted 911 emergency services across multiple Central Texas counties, including Burnet, Llano, and Travis, for over five hours. The incident involved a large-scale robocall attack that overwhelmed systems through a directed denial of service, preventing callers and dispatchers from communicating clearly, blocking address displays, and causing some calls to fail entirely. Emergency response was maintained by rerouting calls through alternate dispatch centers until full service restoration. The attack impacted CAPCOG-managed 911 infrastructure serving at least ten counties, with mitigation efforts coordinated through regional governmental partnerships.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 4 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On Sunday, August 4, 2024, a cyberattack disrupted 911 emergency services across multiple Central Texas jurisdictions for over five hours, beginning at approximately 1 p.m. and continuing until 6:30 p.m. The incident was characterized as a large-scale "robocall attack" targeting the AT&T network infrastructure supporting emergency dispatch systems. Automated calls from spoofed numbers flooded the network, creating a directed denial-of-service condition that overwhelmed call-handling capabilities. Affected areas included the Highland Lakes region—specifically Marble Falls, Burnet County, and Llano County dispatch centers—as well as Travis and Hays counties, with possible impacts in Williamson County. Operational disruptions manifested as callers and dispatchers experiencing severe audio clarity issues, failure of caller address information to display on dispatcher screens, and complete call failures in some instances. The Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG), which manages 911 services for ten counties including Burnet, Llano, Travis, Hays, and Williamson through AT&T, confirmed the attack originated from malicious robocalls deliberately engineered to paralyze emergency response systems.
Dispatch centers implemented immediate contingency measures by rerouting 911 calls through unaffected neighboring call centers to maintain emergency response capabilities during the outage. Burnet County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Mike Sorenson publicly attributed the incident to a coordinated denial-of-service attack targeting 911 infrastructure, citing information provided by CAPCOG officials. Technical teams worked throughout the incident window to mitigate the robocall flood and restore normal operations. Full service resumed across all impacted jurisdictions by Sunday evening, though no details regarding the volume of calls affected or specific threat actor attribution were disclosed. The attack compromised critical public safety communications across multiple counties simultaneously, forcing reliance on manual call-redirection protocols until network functionality was fully restored.