Dallas Weather Siren Hack An Example Of U.S. Infrastructure Vulnerability

NPR

Published April 10, 2017 at 1:40 PM EDT

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A general view of the skyline of downtown Dallas, Texas as the American Airlines Center.
(Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) — A general view of the skyline of downtown Dallas, Texas as the American Airlines Center. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Every one of Dallas’ 156 emergency weather sirens broke into cacophony for more than an hour on Friday.

Ever wonder what the end of the world feels like? #dallas #sirens pic.twitter.com/dvokKWkZ6N

— ManicPixieDreamGay (@deadlyblonde) April 8, 2017

The sirens, which are meant to warn residents of tornadoes or dangerous storms, were not scheduled to go off, nor was there a glitch; officials say the sirens were hacked.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with Sergio Caltagirone (@cnoanalysis), director of threat intelligence and analytics at the cybersecurity company Dragos, about the Dallas cyberattack and what it says about broader U.S. infrastructure vulnerability.