How the 911 system might be hacked [telecom]

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Critical to the success of the 911 emergency phone system, which has saved countless lives since it was first implemented in 1968, is its ability to quickly route calls to emergency responders closest to a caller.

But a group of researchers say they've found a way to effectively disable the 911 emergency system across an entire state for an extended period of time by simply launching what's known as a TDoS attack, or telephony denial-of-service attack, against 911 call centers. The tactic involves infecting mobile phones to cause them to automatically make bogus 911 calls- without their owners' knowledge - thereby clogging call-center queues and preventing legitimate callers from reaching operators.