ASHEVILLE – Buncombe County’s emergency alerts system is among hundreds of agencies impacted by a cybersecurity attack on a third-party vendor, which leaked users’ personal information, the county announced Nov. 25.
Due to the “targeted cyberattack,” the county is unable to send emergency alerts through what’s known as “BCAlerts.” This system, used en masse during Tropical Storm Helene, sends alerts by phone calls, texts and emails using the OnSolve CodeRed environment.
The cyberattack impacted a dataset that may include contact information of users in Buncombe County, including name, address, email address, phone numbers, and/or associated passwords used to create user profiles for alerts, the announcement said…