Cyberattack Hits Emergency Communications Center in Pepperell, MA

PEPPERELL — Officials in member towns of the Patriot Regional Emergency Communications Center are reporting a cyberattack that appears to have disrupted the phone communications of the regional dispatch center and the public safety departments of multiple towns.

Officials in the towns of Pepperell, Dunstable, Townsend and Ashby released separate statements Wednesday saying the non-emergency and business phone lines for their various police, fire and EMS departments, as well as PRECC itself, were down as a result of a cyberattack discovered Tuesday morning. The towns indicated the local 911 system is still operational, and “at this time there is no evidence that private user information has been shared.” PRECC operates out of the Pepperell Police Department.

The statements from each town said officials at the Patriot Regional Emergency Communications Center and public safety officials for each town learned about the cyberattack on Tuesday and immediately engaged an insurance provider “and several outside cybersecurity specialists, as well as state and federal law enforcement partners, to identify the cause of the cyberattack, to contain any possible damage, and to begin restoring services.”

Townsend officials indicated in the statement their town’s affected phone lines were only briefly down, and have since been restored, while the affected phone lines in the other towns remain down.

Dunstable officials said in their statement the town’s police and fire departments “disabled all system connections with Patriot Emergency Communications Center immediately once notified of the breach.”

“At this time, there is no evidence that any systems owned and managed by Dunstable have been affected. Until the investigation is complete and this issue is safely resolved, the main office phone numbers for the Dunstable Police and Fire Stations are unavailable,” said the statement from Dunstable.

The town of Groton is also a PRECC member. The Groton Police Department posted on social media Wednesday that the non-emergency and business lines for the town’s police and fire departments were down due to the attack.

“This is not an April Fool’s Joke… The Groton Police Department was made aware of a cyber attack on our communications center, Patriot Regional Emergency Communications, which occurred] early on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Due to this attack our [business lines are DOWN,” said the post by the Groton Police Department Wednesday afternoon.

Pepperell Town Administrator Andrew MacLean said in his town’s statement Wednesday the town “immediately engaged our insurance provider and reputable outside cybersecurity agencies to respond to and mitigate this attack.”

“We will prioritize keeping the public informed as we move through this process under the guidance of industry professionals,” said MacLean.

Dunstable Town Administrator Jason Silva said he wants to “assure residents that we are working with state and local partners, as well as outside experts, to investigate and mitigate this attack to the best of our abilities.”

Officials did not indicate where this attack may have originated or what kind of attack it may have been.

Officials in Pepperell, Ashby, Dunstable and Groton are asking those who need to reach the non-emergency lines for each department to instead call 978-433-2671, and to use 911 in case of an emergency.

© 2026 The Sun, Lowell, Mass.. Visit www.lowellsun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.