• by Chase Martin , April 10, 2017

Security within the Internet of Things may still need improvement, as a new security breach just affected a citywide emergency system.

Emergency sirens across Dallas, Texas were recently hacked and activated remotely.

All of the city’s 156 outdoor sirens were then manually deactivated by the city’s Office of Emergency Management over the course of more than an hour.

The sirens are part of Dallas’ outdoor warning system, which is used for severe weather alerts and other emergencies. All sirens can be operated remotely from a command center on both an individual level and as a unified system.

The source of the attack has not been identified, but the city confirmed that the system was hacked.

All sirens are now fixed and additional security measures have been implemented into the system. The city is also exploring other areas for potential security vulnerabilities, according to T.C. Broadnax, city manager of Dallas.

“In addition to the city siren system, I have begun the process of looking at critical systems city-wide, to examine what, if any vulnerabilities may exist,” Broadnax wrote in an update about the incident. “These include the water system, radio network, 911/311, police-fire dispatch, flood warning system, financial systems, etc.”

Before the hack, Dallas had already budgeted $180,000 for improving the sirens in the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

The sirens are made by Federal Signal, which develops communication and security systems for state and federal governments.

Federal Signal has similar sirens and other security systems in cities including Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, Amsterdam, among others. Last year, a system of 500 sirens was developed for tsunamis in Chile, according to Federal Signal.

In addition to sirens and emergency systems, Federal Signals also creates body-cameras for police forces and other communication systems within law enforcement.