BK Technologies, the Florida-based maker of mission-critical radios for US police, fire, and defense customers, has confessed to a cyber intrusion that briefly rattled its IT systems last month.

The company identified “potentially suspicious activity” around September 20 and activated the digital fire alarm, isolating affected systems and summoning external incident-response crews. A “limited number of non-critical systems” were disrupted, BK said in an SEC filing, but operations otherwise “continued throughout in all material respects.”

The firm now reckons that an unauthorized third party managed to slip inside and make off with non-public information, possibly including records of current and former employees. BK didn’t specify what data was included in the data breach or how many individuals were affected, but admitted that it’s still working to determine “the nature and scope” of the theft. Law enforcement has been looped in, and notifications to affected individuals and regulators are on the way.

BK says the intruder has since been booted and access to all systems restored. The company expects most of its clean-up costs to be covered by “insurance” and doesn’t believe the incident will leave a dent in its balance sheet.

BK Technologies builds rugged handheld and vehicle radios marketed as “unsurpassed in reliability” for police, firefighters, emergency services, military units, and other government agencies. That makes any hint of compromise awkward for a firm whose gear is designed for use when everything else has failed.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the cyberattack, and BK hasn’t said whether any of its customers were directly affected. For now, the company insists its operations are back to normal – though for a business built on reliability, even a small cyber wobble is the sort of static it could do without. ®