Goochland Residents Lose CodeRED Alerts After Cybersecurity Incident

On November 22, 2025 Goochland County was impacted by a cybersecurity incident that disrupted the CodeRED emergency notification system used to send telephone calls, text messages and emails to residents. County officials were notified late Friday night that data associated with the CodeRED system may have been compromised. The company that operates CodeRED indicated at the time that there was no indication the data had been leaked. Those who had signed up for CodeRED alerts were advised that those notifications were out of service.

The outage prompted immediate changes to the county notification strategy. Goochland County posted emergency updates to its website at goochlandva.us and to its social accounts on Facebook at facebook.com/GoochlandCountyVA, on Instagram at instagram.com/goochlandcounty and on X at x.com/GoochlandGovtVA. The county also arranged with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to use FEMA s Integrated Public Alert and Warning system to issue messages during the interruption. Residents must allow wireless emergency alerts in their mobile phone settings to receive IPAWS messages.

At the time of the notice the county said there was no emergency situation in Goochland County. The outage nonetheless highlighted operational and policy concerns for local governance. The reliance on a third party vendor for time sensitive alerts raises questions about redundancy, contract oversight and the adequacy of contingency planning for critical communications. Local officials worked with state partners to restore an alert pathway, but the incident underscores the importance of multiple notification channels for populations with limited internet access or those who rely on landline calls.

There are also privacy and security implications. As a general precaution the county advised residents who had signed up for CodeRED and used the same password elsewhere to consider updating passwords on other accounts. For questions residents were directed to the county s Emergency Operations Center at 804 556 5678 to leave a message with contact information, with messages to be returned within 48 hours.

The outage is likely to prompt review of emergency communications protocols and vendor risk management in Goochland County. County officials said more information would be posted on the county website as it became available, and residents are urged to monitor the county s official channels and to check mobile alert settings to ensure they can receive emergency messages.