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Floyd County moves to terminate Code Red contract after reported cyber-attack; approves temporary Everbridge switch
Summary
Floyd County commissioners approved terminating the Code Red emergency-alert contract after officials reported a November 8 service outage they attribute to a cyber-attack and unanimously approved a temporary Everbridge contract to restore alerts.
Floyd County commissioners voted unanimously on Nov. 26 to allow Emergency Management Director Kent Barrow to sign a termination letter ending the county’s contract with Code Red after officials said the alerting platform suffered a cyber-attack and went offline.
Barrow told the board that Code Red’s platform went down on Nov. 8 and Floyd County was notified on Nov. 18 through a third party. "Code Red had a cyber-attack," he said, and county staff have been unable to get substantive responses from Code Red’s customer service. Barrow said the county paid Code Red more than $60,000 in 2024 for a three-year contract and is seeking a refund of about $30,000 for the period after the outage.
County Attorney Kristi Fox told commissioners she believes Code Red has breached the contract. "They should let us out of it and refund the balance from November 8 forward," Fox said, and she advised the county could post the information it received from Code Red to social media to notify residents about exposed phone numbers and email addresses. Board President Al Knable asked whether the county’s cyber insurance could be used to recoup some costs; no resolution on an insurance claim was recorded.
To restore alerting services while the Code Red contract is exited, Barrow said Everbridge offered to provide service for $1.00 per contract year until the Code Red contract ends and could have the county online and begin training with Jason Mauch by Nov. 28. Commissioners unanimously approved the temporary Everbridge contract.
The board’s actions on Nov. 26 were procedural motions: Jason Sharp moved and Frank Loop seconded the termination-letter authorization and the Everbridge contract approval; both motions passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned following those votes.
The county has not yet published details on next steps for resident notification beyond the attorney’s social-media suggestion, and the transcript records no final decision on a cyber insurance claim or the exact refund amount to be recovered.
