Long Beach\u2019s top emergency manager said Friday the city\u2019s overhaul of its emergency notification system is nearly complete after a security breach in November compromised the data of 24,000 accounts and forced the city to shut it down for months.<\/p>\n
Reginald Harrison, director of Long Beach\u2019s Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications Department, said in an email that it has switched all existing accounts onto the new platform, run by Crisis24.<\/p>\n
The service, free for anyone who signs up, notifies cellphones in a designated geographic area with alerts on natural disasters, dangerous weather and other emergencies.<\/p>\n
The prior system, called OnSolve CodeRED, was suspended<\/a> by Crisis24 in November following a cyberattack<\/a> officials say was orchestrated by an \u201corganized cybercriminal group.\u201d Information at risk included home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and passwords used to make profiles.<\/p>\n The old system has since been decommissioned. Officials emphasized to residents that the new system has undergone a security audit and stress tests by third-party cybersecurity experts.<\/p>\n \u201cFor community members, the experience of receiving emergency notifications from the City will remain largely unchanged,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cHowever, we do believe the registration portal has a more modern look and feel \u2013 something that we hope residents will like.\u201d<\/p>\n