NAHANT — The Town is urging community members to change their OnSolve CodeRED password after a nationwide cyber attack against the emergency system has exposed user data.
The Town emphasized in a statement that the attack was against the CodeRED system rather than on the Town itself, though it’s still asking residents to be cautious.
According to the Town’s statement on Facebook, a data breach experienced by the OnSolve CodeRED system has exposed user data, including phone numbers, email addresses, and passwords. OnSolve is investigating the cyber attack. Currently, the Town is eyeing other options as a means to notify residents during emergencies.
While some residents have only signed up as a guest in the emergency notification system, the residents with accounts are asked to update their passwords immediately. The CodeRED emergency notification system is a voluntary program where residents can sign up to receive notifications and alerts regarding emergencies, ongoing projects, and general announcements.
The Town reiterated that the CodeRED system is not related to the Emergency Alert System, which is managed by the federal government and is commonly recognized as an alert tone that comes on phones, radio, or TV.
This service is not affected by the CodeRED outage and does not require anyone to sign up, the Town noted.
“I was shocked by the whole thing, because I know that many communities use CodeRED,” Town Administrator Alison Nieto said. “I spoke with Police Chief Timothy Furlong about using alternative methods, and he assured me that we’re able to get emergency notifications out through Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA).”
Nieto continued, saying that after the incident, the Town just received access to CodeRED’s new platform, which has heightened security to fortify it against further cyber attacks.
There will be more updates given by Nahant accordingly as more information becomes available.
