Emergency alert systems across US disrupted following OnSolve CodeRED cyberattack

A person holding a phone looking at a text with warning signs

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Ken Stocker)

OnSolve’s legacy CodeRED platform hit by cyberattack claimed by INC Ransom
Hack forced Crisis24 to rebuild from outdated backups, permanently losing recent accounts and data
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and 911 Board cut ties with CodeRED, citing citizen privacy concerns

OnSolve, a cloud-based critical-event and mass-notification platform, suffered a highly disruptive cyberattack recently which forced it to sunset its legacy CodeRED environment and move to a new version, as well as losing sensitive data and even a business customer.

OnSolve is a service that helps organizations send urgent alerts and communications via SMS, phone, email, push notifications and more. It is used by state and local governments, the police, and other emergency services. CodeRED is the platform that enables this service.

Crisis24, the company behind OnSolve and CodeRED, recently notified its customers about a “targeted attack by an organized cybercriminal group”, in which it said that data associated with the legacy OnSolve CodeRED platform was “removed from our systems”. It stressed that there is no evidence the data was published online, but added that there is a strong possibility that it might leak.

FBI was notified

“It appears that the impacted dataset may contain contact information of OnSolve CodeRED users: name, address, email address, phone numbers, and/or associated passwords used to create user profiles for alerts,” the notification reads.

“If the same password is used by users for any other personal or business accounts, those passwords should be changed immediately.”

The attack forced Crisis24 to rebuild its service via backup. However, since the backup is more than six months old, the accounts and data generated in the meantime seem to be lost for good.

The attack was claimed by a ransomware operator known as INC Ransom which created a new entry on its Tor data leak site, and added screenshots showing OnSolve customer data.

At the same time, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Douglas County 911 Board decided to cut all ties with CodeRED and look for a replacement.

“Our top priority is the privacy and protection of our citizens, which led to the decision to end our agreement with CodeRED,” it said in a press release.

Via BleepingComputer

The best antivirus for all budgets

➡️ Read our full guide to the best antivirus
1. Best overall:
Bitdefender Total Security
2. Best for families:
Norton 360 with LifeLock
3. Best for mobile:
McAfee Mobile Security

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.