Fillmore County, along with many local governments/public safety agencies nationwide, learned that the Onsolve CodeRED notification service had suffered a cyberattack in November 2025.
This notification service allowed public safety agencies to send out public safety announcements to protect their communities.
The cyberattack has led to data breaches and forced the system to be taken offline. At this point alerts are no longer available from this platform.
User data from registered accounts including names, emails, phone numbers, and passwords may have been compromised. Currently, there is not any evidence of identity theft. However, CodeRED has advised users if they used the same password on any other account, a new password should be created immediately. There is a possibility that compromised data could be leaked in the future. People are always encouraged to use a different password for each of their accounts. The cyberattack could also lead to an increase in spam calls.
At the December 2 meeting of the county board of commissioners, a contract with Everbridge, Inc. for use of its software to replace CodeRED was approved as recommended by Emergency Manager Jason Harmening and Sheriff John DeGeorge. DeGeorge explained the standard contract with Everbridge will provide emergency alerts and the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) to notify the public of natural and human-made disasters. It will replace Onsolve CodeRED, which is being rebuilt.
The standard Everbridge emergency notification system yearly service contract will cost $6,075, which is about $5,000 less than CodeRED. Fillmore County will begin using the Everbridge system beginning in January 2026. The Everbridge contract will be paid for with 911 funding.
Harmening explained that even before the cyberattack on CodeRED, the county had been looking into the availability of other emergency alert software.
During the time when CodeRED goes offline and before the transition to Everbridge, a neighboring county or the state will still send out IPAWS alerts to notify Fillmore County residents of life and safety alerts. IPAWS alerts are sent to everyone whether they are subscribers or not. Harmening noted the last IPAWS alert sent out was to report the 911 outage.
Harmening explained that “amber alerts” are generated by the state and are put out statewide, not at the local level.
The new standard service contract with Everbridge will not provide weather alerts; people can subscribe separately to the National Weather Service for weather related alerts if there is not a weather app already on their phone. The county board approved the standard service contract notification system which does not include weather alerts because it costs less and will save taxpayer dollars.
The sheriff’s office will provide information on the new platform and how to sign up in the coming weeks. The new Everbridge system should be operational in January. This information may be posted on social media and also on the county’s website. There is no cost to sign up; subscriptions allow the user to be more informed. People can choose to opt in; no one has to opt in.
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