SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. – Spokane County Emergency Management plans to re-launch ALERT Spokane with a new partner, filling the void created after its previous partner was compromised by a cyber-attack.
The new system, created in partnership with Regroup Mass Notification, can send notifications to registered participants through multiple channels like text, email, app alerts, voice calls and more.
Spokane County said the new system allows public safety agencies to send alerts to residents during emergencies and “critical community events.”
“This new system allows us to communicate directly and immediately with our community when it matters most,” Deputy Director for Spokane County Emergency Management Chandra Fox said in a release about the new system.
“ALERT Spokane strengthens our ability to provide the best possible alerting capability for Spokane County and ensures residents receive timely information they can act on to protect themselves and their loved ones,” she said.
Due to the nation-wide cyber-attack that destroyed CodeRED, Spokane County’s previous partner, residents will have to re-register for the new alert system if they want to receive emergency notifications.
Spokane County’s announcement about the new alert system said County Emergency Management will be running a series of system tests over the next 10 days, which will send “Test” updates during daytime hours.
The new system will also feature poll questions and request responses, Fox said in the announcement.
Users can register for the new system at Spokane County’s ALERT Spokane webpage.
CodeRED’s cyber-attack
The CodeRED cyber attack happened sometime prior late November, when government agencies and law enforcement groups around the nation started warning users and splitting ties with CodeRED.
CodeRED and Crisis 24, its parent company, notified its customers of the attack but did not release a public statement addressing the incident.
In Montana, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said the cyber-attack may have leaked user’s data, including their name, address, email address, phone number and CodeRED password. At the time, the Sheriff’s Office told users to change their passwords if they used their CodeRED password for any other accounts.
The data leak caused OnSolve to permanently decommission its CodeRED infrastructure and moved its customers to a new platform operated by Crisis 24, CodeRED’s parent company.
Cyber-attack’s affect in Spokane County
Spokane law enforcement agencies or government groups did not issue any public statements about the attack in November, the time when other agencies made their announcements. Months later, in January, Fox told the Spokesman-Review that Spokane County users were not affected by the data breach.
In a January board briefing session, Fox told Spokane County officials that after the attack, Crisis 24 asked its clients to migrate to the new platform it created. Fox said the new platform did not meet the County’s needs.
“We made the decision to just go ahead and break with them and find a new platform,” she said in the meeting.
