Cybersecurity incident damages notification system for Atchison County Emergency Management

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- The CodeRED public notification system used by Atchison County Emergency Management is currently offline due to a recent cybersecurity incident, the agency said in a public safety announcement today.

Atchison County KS Emergency Management is informing residents that its CodeRED public notification system is currently offline after a reported cybersecurity incident caused damage to the platform.

"At this time, the vendor has not provided a timeline for when the system will be restored. As a result, Atchison County is unable to send notifications through CodeRED until further notice," a Facebook post from ACEM said.

During this outage, the County will use the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System for emergency, life-safety notifications only, if needed.

IPAWS cannot be used for non-emergency or convenience notifications. The system is federally regulated by FEMA and is reserved strictly for urgent public safety messages.

Residents are encouraged to monitor local news outlets, official County/City websites, and official social media pages for updates and information that would normally be distributed through CodeRED.