SwBratcher's Posts

Reported by: Kevin Schwaller

Sunday, November 21 2010

(Greene County, MO) -- Some local cell phones were abuzz Saturday with bogus information.

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department says an alert system was compromised Sunday morning.

The health department says if you got strange messages from its Nixle service Sunday, disregard them.

Some people are signed up to get updates from the organization online or on their phones.

But Saturday they got messages they probably didn't expect.

Several people KOLR10/KSFX News interviewed found the messages funny. However, the health department isn't laughing.

"Messages were sent from our Springfield-Greene County Health Department Nixle account that [contained] inappropriate and bogus information," said Katie Towns-Jeter, the public information administrator for the Springfield-Greene County Health Department.

The organization uses a service called Nixle to keep in touch with the community. It can send notices and alerts to the public through the account. But the department never meant for anyone to send lies like: "Thanksgiving canceled due to widespread turkey shortage".

Another message claims the health department spent thousands of dollars to research diaper dependability.

"I think it's pretty obvious that somebody hacked into it," said Internet user Joel Yanke.

Not all the posts were so light. One claimed the organization released sensitive information about STD tests online. The department says all of them are false.

"So we're just asking people to disregard all of the messages that are being sent from that account right now," said Towns-Jeter.

Health workers don't know how this happened. However, security problems on the web are nothing new.

Local internet professional Scott Bratcher helps small businesses set up websites. He says the key to avoiding trouble is keeping your passwords safe, complex and ever-changing.

"Just protect your password, really. that's what it comes down to," said Bratcher. "Businesses have more to lose because of the branding and their credibility in the community, but individuals have just as much to lose with their personal information."

KOLR10/KSFX News is aware of six messages that went out to the health department subscribers.
 
The department says it's working with Nixle to try resolve the situation. It also plans to work with the police department Monday to figure out what happened.

I was consulted by KOLR10 for a story on Greene County's Alert System compromise. The story was covered by Kevin Schwaller; he was very professional to work with.