Fed says cyberattack caused suicide helpline outage

A cyber attack causes a power outage almost all day of the nation’s new 988 mental health helpline late last year, federal officials told The Associated Press Friday. Lawmakers are now calling on the federal agency to oversee the program to prevent future attacks.

“On December 1, 988 Lifeline voice calling was unavailable due to a cybersecurity incident,” said Danielle Bennett, a spokeswoman for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. know in an email.

The attack happened on the network of Intrado, the company that provided telecommunication services for the helpline. The agency did not disclose details about who it believes launched the attack or what type of cyberattack occurred. Intrado is working with a third-party evaluator to investigate the incident and law enforcement agency was notified of the breach, SAMHSA said.

country 988 phone numbercan be reached by text, chat, or voice call, has become a lifeline for millions of Americans seeking help in times of emotional crisis, with millions of calls poured in during the first six months of its launch in July. The system is designed to work similarly to 911—it’s a common, easy-to-remember number that people can call in an emergency to contact someone who is working around the clock at a center local call.

Instead, on December 1, those who had tried to contact the line for help with suicidal ideation or depression were greeted with a message saying the line was “going through a stop service.” However, messaging and chat services are still available for those who need help.

The Federal Communications Commission said in December that it was investigating the outage. At the time, Intrado said the company was “experienced with an issue affecting production across multiple systems” and was “working actively to restore service.” Intrado could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.

Last week, Democratic Representative Tony Cárdenas and Republican Representative Jay Obernolte, both in California, introduced a bill calling for better coordination and reporting of cyberattacks on the 988 system. .

‘Even a few hours’ power-off Obernolte said in a press release introducing the bill. “It’s important that we minimize the risk of future service disruptions and take steps to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities that could put the hotline at risk.”

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