City of Dallas Hacked, 156 Emergency Sirens Sound

Dallas was noisy this weekend when hackers took over their system and sounded off 156 emergency sirens in the early hours.

The alarms began blasting close to midnight on Saturday and continued for nearly two hours, prompting a flood of 911 calls and thousands of confused and scared citizens.

The purpose of the sirens is to alert the public of emergencies, such as severe weather. The hacking is believed to have occurred locally.

The Mayor of Dallas, Mike Rawlings, said the city would look into upgrading its technology infrastructure in order to prevent such attacks in the future. The hacking was continuous, according to Rawlings, which forced the city to eventually shut the entire system down. It remained down for the remainder of Sunday.

Nearly 5,000 calls to 911 were made while the sirens blasted, more than double the usual number the city experiences, according to The New York Times.

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