Wabasha County Reports User Data Exposed in Alert System Cyber Attack

Wabasha, MN (KROC-AM News)- Officials in Wabasha County say user information was accessed in a hack of the county’s emergency alert system. 

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It’s the second southeastern Minnesota government to report a cyber attack compromising data this month. 

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Officials in Mower County say the data of more than 27,000 people was compromised in a cyber attack that occurred this past June. 

Wabasha County officials say they learned of the hacking last month. 

Wabasha County Officials Report User Passwords, Contact Info and Other Data Stolen in Hack of CodeRED Alert System

Wabasha County Emergency Management uses a system called OnSolved CodeRED. It’s a service that allows local authorities to issue mass alerts to the public in the event of an emergency. 

The platform has since been decommissioned following the hack. 

Over the course of a forensic investigation, authorities learned a cybercriminal organization has taken responsibility for hacking the emergency alert service, a notice announcing the cyber attack says. 

Investigators also suspect that data associated with the service has been removed and that some of it has appeared online, however its not clear if the data seen online is from the CodeRED system, officials say. 

Authorities say the impacted CodeRED data may contain the names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and passwords from the users of the platform. 

Officials are urging anyone who has the same password for CodeRED for other accounts to immediately change their passwords. 

Wabasha County officials say they are working on finding a replacement notification system with security enhancements for CodeRED. 

Authorities did not say how many users had their data impacted by the cyber attack.