Sutter County OEM logo shown in a graphic shared during a press release about the CodeRED outage caused by a cybersecurity incident. Photo courtesy of the County of Sutter

SUTTER COUNTY, CA (MPG) - The Sutter County Office of Emergency Management has been notified that the ongoing outage of the county’s emergency alert system, operated by its contracted vendor, CodeRED by Crisis24, is the result of a cybersecurity incident carried out by an organized cybercriminal group.

The incident was described by Crisis24 as a targeted attack that may have compromised personal information tied to CodeRED users nationwide. Potentially impacted data includes names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and/or associated passwords used to create user profiles. CodeRED has advised users that if the same passwords were used for any other personal or business accounts, those credentials should be changed immediately.

Despite the ongoing outage, the Office of Emergency Management retains the ability to send emergency alerts through other systems and partners, including the RAVE Mobile Safety mass notification system, Wireless Emergency Alerts, and the Emergency Alert System relayed through FEMA and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, as well as official county social media channels, the county website and direct coordination with news media.

Sutter County first informed the public on Nov. 14 that CodeRED was experiencing a system outage. At that time, Crisis24 had not disclosed the origin, scope or whether customer data was at risk. County officials had no information indicating a breach or the extent of the disruption when the initial notification was issued.

“We have aggressively pressed the vendor for clarification and now have enough information to provide this update to our residents,” county officials said in the announcement. “We remain in active communication with state and federal partners, and we will release additional information as soon as possible.”

Sutter County Office of Emergency Management pledged to continue sharing updates as more information becomes available.

“Our top priority remains ensuring the community receives timely, accurate, and reliable emergency information, regardless of the status of any single system,” officials said. “Our priority is transparency, accuracy and ensuring that our community receives reliable information.”