Cambridge Public Safety Agencies Notify Community Of Cyber-Attack Against CodeRed; Encourage Residents to Change Passwords

December 11th Update: System Migrated to New Site; Users Should Reset Password

The City of Cambridge, Emergency Communications Department, Police Department, and Fire Departments are notifying the community of a nationwide cyber-attack against the OnSolve CodeRED emergency notifications system, and encouraging users of the system to immediately change their passwords.

According to the vendor, community members and residents who are signed up for CodeRed notifications via the Cambridge Alert Network are highly encouraged to change/update their passwords for other personal or business accounts if the same password has been used to make the emergency notification system account.

The CodeRed platform is currently down and there is no way for existing subscribers to manually change their CodeRed password. We expect to have more information in the coming days once access to their new platform is available.  

The CodeRED emergency notification system is a voluntary program where residents can sign up to receive notifications and emergency alerts affecting the City, such as snow emergencies, evacuations, large-scale water outages or other significant service disruptions.

A data breach experienced by the OnSolve CodeRed system has exposed user data, including phone numbers, email addresses, and passwords. The cyber-attack was against the OnSolve CodeRed system, and not the City of Cambridge or any of its departments specifically.

The vendor, OnSolve, is investigating this attack and is actively looking at alternative options for users. While the data stolen in the attack has not yet been leaked, there is a possibility it could be leaked at any time.

CodeRED is NOT related to the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which is the federal government-managed emergency notifications system and recognizable by the telltale alert tone that residents may hear on TV, radio or via their cellphones. This service, which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts may deploy during a serious emergency, is not affected by the CodeRED outage and does not require anyone to sign up.

The Emergency Communications and Police Departments will provide updates to residents once they become available from the OnSolve CodeRED system.