The Edmonton Police Service said Friday it is exploring how it could prevent a similar situation from unfolding in the future after a software issue involving cybersecurity company CrowdStrike temporarily resulted in problems for 911 service in Alberta’s capital.
“The scale of this 911 incident is unprecedented, and EPS is now in the process of evaluating the details and speaking with our service providers to improve the resilience of the 911 network and to avoid similar incidents in the future,” police said in a news release.
The software glitch impacted services and companies around the world.
The EPS said it was late Thursday that the incident led to “a significant disruption to the voice-over-internet-(VOIP)-call-handling system for 911 calls for police and fire in Edmonton, as well as elsewhere in Alberta.”
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“Continuity plans were implemented through the early morning hours by the EPS’ emergency communications and operations management branch (ECOMB) and information technology staff, and systems were fully restored by 4 a.m. and have been stable since,” the EPS said. “Staff also worked closely with the city’s Emergency Operation Centre, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services and the Alberta Emergency Management Agency on contingency plans for emergency calls in the event the system could not be restored in a timely manner.
“During this disruption, police emergency communications handled approximately 146 911 calls. ECOMB staff used cellular devices to call back dropped 911 calls, which were still immediately visible to operators despite the communications disruption.
“At this time, there is no indication that the incident significantly impacted any call responses or resulted in significant negative outcomes. EPS staff were able to follow up on all emergency calls received overnight.”
As of noon, CrowdStrike said it was fixing the software update it sent to Microsoft that is being blamed for the issues.
— with a file from The Canadian Press