Butler County Commissioners changed public emergency alert providers after a nationwide cybersecurity incident impacted the vendor that operated the former system.

The commissioners, on Wednesday, Dec. 17, approved a $21,750 subscription agreement for 2026 with Regroup Mass Notification after being told about the cybersecurity incident involving CodeRED.

All county information that CodeRED used to notify residents about emergencies was wiped out, said Steve Bicehouse, emergency services director.

The Pennsylvania Office of Administration notified the public and local governments that Crisis24, the vendor that operates CodeRED, recently notified its customers of a nationwide cybersecurity incident involving its legacy platform.

According to the company, certain user information may have been accessed without authorization. Crisis24 has indicated this may include names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and, in some cases, associated account passwords.

Crisis24 has advised individuals who used the same password for CodeRED and other accounts should update those other accounts as a precaution, according to the state.

No state-owned information technology systems or data were involved in or connected to the incident.

Bicehouse said residents who subscribed were asked to provide their names and cellphone numbers and had the option to provide email addresses.

In the 13 years the county has used CodeRED, the alert system has been used only when an outage shuts down the 911 system. The last time it was used, alerts were sent to 169,000 devices owned by 75,000 to 100,000 residents, he said.

Leslie Osche, commissioners chairwoman, said utility companies have their own emergency alert systems.

Bicehouse said the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, not the vendor, notified the county about the cybersecurity incident. The county does not have contact information for the county residents who signed up for CodeRED and was not able to contact those residents, he said.

He added the alert system has not been used for less serious matters, such as road closures and parades, so residents don’t start thinking the county is “crying wolf” when issuing alerts and ignore an alert for a serious emergency.

The county hasn’t finalized a contract with Regroup Mass Notification. Information for residents wishing to sign up for alerts from Regroup will be announced when it becomes available.