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911 is a critical resource in America.
Making it inaccessible to the public by overwhelming it with coordinated simultaneous calls could be the goal of hackers one day.
"It's very easy from the hacker perspective to actually start such kind of attacks. It doesn't require very sophisticated tools," says Professor Larry Shi.
He leads a University of Houston research group that's developing protection methods for 911.
The Department of Homeland Security is financing this research with a $2.6 million grant.
Shi's goal is to come up with software and technology standards that will shield 911 from cyber attacks.
Along with Shi, Professor Omprakash Gnawali is the project's principal researcher.
He explains the impact of compromising 911 in a big city.
"A lot of citizens would be affected. In a sense, they would not be able to get the help in an emergency when they really need it and this could really impact not just Houston, but any other large city in the United States," stresses Gnawali.
Shi and his team will also work with ex-hackers who will identify weaknesses.