25th November 2025 Cyber Update: Nationwide Emergency Alert System Crippled by Ransomware

Cyber News Centre's cyber update for 25th November 2025: OnSolve, the operator of the widely used CodeRED emergency notification system, has been crippled by a ransomware attack, forcing the platform to be permanently decommissioned.

OnSolve provides the CodeRED mass notification system used by hundreds of municipalities across the United States to send emergency alerts, such as tornado warnings and evacuation notices, directly to residents' phones. The platform is a critical piece of public safety infrastructure for communities nationwide.

The Update and Why It Matters

The Update: A sophisticated cyberattack has crippled the OnSolve CodeRED emergency notification platform, impacting hundreds of municipalities across the United States and potentially exposing personal information of millions of residents. The incident, which began in early November 2025, has forced OnSolve to permanently decommission its legacy CodeRED infrastructure and migrate customers to a new platform. The INC Ransom group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which they say resulted in the theft of user data including names, addresses, phone numbers, and passwords. In a statement, OnSolve's parent company, Crisis24, confirmed that data was removed from their systems and that it may be leaked.

The company stated, "Our forensic analysis continues to indicate that this is an incident strictly contained within the OnSolve CodeRED environment with no contagion beyond."

The attack has left many communities without a critical emergency communication tool while they transition to the new system.

Why it Matters: The successful attack on a nationwide emergency alert system highlights a significant and growing threat to critical public safety infrastructure. The compromise of CodeRED demonstrates that even systems designed to protect citizens in moments of crisis are vulnerable to sophisticated ransomware attacks. The potential leak of personal data for millions of people who signed up for these alerts erodes public trust in government-provided services. This incident forces a difficult conversation about the security of third-party vendors that provide critical services to government agencies and the cascading impact these breaches can have on public safety and personal privacy.

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