MARSHALL — A service used to send emergency alerts to Lyon County residents’ phones has been discontinued after a cyberattack last month.

Sheriff Eric Wallen said weather warning alerts from the CodeRED platform will no longer be available.

Wallen said Onsolve, the provider of the CodeRED platform, hasn’t provided a lot of details as to what happened in the cyberattack. However, it’s believed that the attack accessed data residents used to subscribe to updates, including names, email addresses, phone numbers and passwords.

Onsolve recommends that subscribers change their passwords, especially if they use the same password for other accounts.

“This is not just a Lyon County thing,” Wallen said of the disruption of CodeRED.

The problem was nationwide, he said.

Wallen said in the past, Lyon County has used CodeRED notifications to issue weather alerts to area residents. The loss of the CodeRED service has come at a less active time of year for storm alerts, Wallen said.

“It would have had a bigger impact if it were spring. Our biggest use of it is weather alerts,” he said.

Wallen said the Sheriff’s Office is currently looking at different companies for a new weather alert service, with the intent of going live in early 2026. So far, they’ve had demonstrations of two possible services, and have set up a third demonstration, he said.

In the meantime, the Sheriff’s Office is using backup protocols for sending public alerts, using IPAWS, the federal Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, and temporarily using an alternative alert program from Onsolve called Crisis24.

Less urgent information will be shared through social media and local media, the Sheriff’s Office said.