Excerpts from the NWHerald.com:

Over the past six weeks, Harvard’s tornado early warning system has been compromised multiple times by an unknown hacker. The unauthorized activations have occurred four times, sometimes in the early hours of the morning. The first time an early morning siren went off, a total of 44 calls were made to police dispatch and eight 911 calls were made.

The last significant upgrade to Harvard’s alert system was in 2015 to switch from T1 lines to radio signals. This upgrade significantly reduced operating costs and permitted remote activation from the city’s dispatch center, NERCOM.

With the integrity of weather alerts compromised and a top-to-bottom upgrade generously estimated to cost six figures, the city of Harvard will be seeking to decommission the estimated 80-year-old system.

The city recommended residents buy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radios, which can be bought for $20 to $30 at any hardware or home improvement store. Residents also are encouraged to seek verified smartphone applications that could provide NOAA or National Weather Service notifications.

Tags: Harvard Fire Protection District, tornado early warning system compromised by hacker