ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Buncombe County emergency call, text and email alerts are down following a cyber attack on a third-party vendor, but 911 or emergency response operation have not been affected.
The “BCAlerts” are distributed through OnSolve CodeRED, which began to experience outages on Nov. 18 and reported a data breach of system users’ personal data on Monday, Nov. 24. Impacted data may include user names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and passwords associated with OnSolve accounts.
County response
According to a Nov. 25 press release, Buncombe County can assure OnSolve CodeRED users that the breach was strictly limited to the platform and that there is no indication any of the leaked data has been published. However, users are encouraged to contact credit bureaus to ensure their personal data has not been compromised. Free credit monitoring is offered by the Federal Trade Commission.
The platform is also used to send Integrated Public Alert and Warning System messages, which community members will still receive during the outage.
In the aftermath of the breach, Buncombe County will continue to work with OnSolve CodeRED to gain additional information, but will explore working with other emergency alert vendors in order to resume emergency communication services for the community as soon as possible.
“Buncombe County Government is utilizing a layered communication strategy to ensure residents continue receiving timely and accurate information. Updates will be shared across multiple channels, including the Buncombe County website, the County’s official Facebook page and its emergency alert features, the Nextdoor app and its emergency features, X and Instagram,” Buncombe County wrote in the release. “The County will also contact all local news outlets to distribute urgent information along with trusted community partners. In the event of an emergency, first responders may also go door-to-door.”
Buncombe County directs any concerns or questions from the community to OnSolve CodeRED directly at crsupport@crisis24.com.
