{
  "id": "2023-06-02-ohio-state-university-accidental-buckeye-alert",
  "slug": "ohio-state-university-accidental-buckeye-alert-2023-06-02",
  "institution": {
    "name": "The Ohio State University",
    "shortName": "OSU",
    "state": "OH",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "Buckeye Alert",
    "enrollment": 61000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2023-06-02",
    "type": "police-activity",
    "cleryCategory": "test",
    "resolution": "unfounded",
    "headline": "Seven Minutes of Panic: The Vendor Error That Pushed 'Active Attacker' to All of Ohio State",
    "summary": "On the afternoon of June 2, 2023, [Ohio State's Buckeye Alert system accidentally pushed an 'active attacker' warning](https://www.wosu.org/news/2023-06-02/ohio-state-universitys-emergency-management-issued-false-alert-about-campus) to its Columbus campus after a vendor activated the live system during scheduled maintenance. [Roughly seven minutes later the university issued a correction](https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/buckeye-alert-ohio-state-confirms-no-active-threat/530-47ccf754-b1e4-4e6f-8a51-c58fb1504950) labeled 'Buckeye Alert TEST,' confirming there was no emergency on any Ohio State campus.",
    "outcome": "No threat existed; the alert was an erroneous activation by Ohio State's emergency-notification vendor during system maintenance. The university apologized and said it was working to ensure the system would operate correctly going forward. The incident occurred during the summer term, when the campus population is reduced; no injuries resulted.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2023-06-02T14:06:00-04:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "Buckeye Alert! Active Attacker reported on/near the OSU Columbus campus. Police responding.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.wosu.org/news/2023-06-02/ohio-state-universitys-emergency-management-issued-false-alert-about-campus",
      "sourceDescription": "WOSU Public Media coverage quoting the erroneous Buckeye Alert",
      "annotations": [
        "Reconstructed from news coverage — outlets reproduced two differing renderings of the erroneous message: WOSU and ABC6 reported it carried active-shooter guidance ('Secure in place: RUN,HIDE,or, as a last resort,FIGHT!'), while others reported the shorter 'Buckeye Alert! Active Attacker reported on/near the OSU Columbus campus. Police responding.' Because the exact wording could not be confirmed against a primary archive (HTTP 403 in this environment), isVerbatimConfirmed is false",
        "The alert went out via text, the university website, and social media at approximately 2:06 PM EDT on June 2, 2023; a system test had been announced about half an hour earlier at 1:36 PM EDT",
        "No active attacker existed — Ohio State's emergency-notification vendor accidentally activated the live Buckeye Alert system during scheduled maintenance"
      ],
      "characterCount": 91
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "correction",
      "timestampApprox": "Approximately 2:13 PM EDT on June 2, 2023 — about seven minutes after the erroneous alert",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "Buckeye Alert TEST - We are undergoing system maintenance and our vendor accidently activated our system.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/buckeye-alert-ohio-state-confirms-no-active-threat/530-47ccf754-b1e4-4e6f-8a51-c58fb1504950",
      "sourceDescription": "10TV (WBNS) coverage reproducing Ohio State's correction message",
      "annotations": [
        "The misspelling 'accidently' is preserved exactly as Ohio State sent it; the identical wording, including the typo, was reproduced across multiple independent outlets, which is why this correction is marked verbatim-confirmed even though the primary archive is unreachable",
        "At least one outlet reported the correction continued '...activated our system. There is NO emergency on any Ohio State campus.'; that trailing sentence is omitted here because it was not corroborated across sources",
        "Labeling the correction 'Buckeye Alert TEST' reused the system's test prefix to signal the prior 'active attacker' message was not a real emergency notification"
      ],
      "characterCount": 105
    }
  ],
  "context": "[The Ohio State University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_University) is a public R1 university whose Columbus campus enrolls roughly 60,000 students and uses the 'Buckeye Alert' emergency-notification system. On the afternoon of Friday, June 2, 2023, during the summer term, [OSU's emergency-management vendor accidentally activated the live alert system while it was undergoing maintenance](https://www.wosu.org/news/2023-06-02/ohio-state-universitys-emergency-management-issued-false-alert-about-campus), pushing an 'active attacker' warning to the campus at about 2:06 PM EDT. [About seven minutes later](https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/buckeye-alert-ohio-state-confirms-no-active-threat/530-47ccf754-b1e4-4e6f-8a51-c58fb1504950) the university sent a correction labeled 'Buckeye Alert TEST,' explaining the vendor had 'accidently' activated the system and that there was no emergency on any Ohio State campus. [Local outlets reported](https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/ohio-state-university/ohio-state-university-does-not-have-active-attacker/) the university apologized and said it was working to ensure the system operated correctly going forward. The episode is one of several documented accidental campus-alert activations in this archive, illustrating the operational risk of testing or maintaining a live mass-notification system.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The correction's preserved misspelling ('accidently') is reproduced identically across multiple independent outlets, marking it as genuine verbatim text even though the initial erroneous alert's exact wording varied between news reproductions",
    "Roughly seven minutes elapsed between the erroneous 'active attacker' push (~2:06 PM EDT) and the 'Buckeye Alert TEST' correction (~2:13 PM EDT) on June 2, 2023",
    "The incident was a vendor error during system maintenance, not a hoax or a real threat — a recurring failure mode for live campus mass-notification systems"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Ohio State's Emergency Management vendor sends out false attack alert on campus (WOSU)",
      "url": "https://www.wosu.org/news/2023-06-02/ohio-state-universitys-emergency-management-issued-false-alert-about-campus",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ohio State confirms no active threat after vendor accidentally sent out 'active attacker' alert (10TV)",
      "url": "https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/buckeye-alert-ohio-state-confirms-no-active-threat/530-47ccf754-b1e4-4e6f-8a51-c58fb1504950",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ohio State University does not have active attacker (NBC4 WCMH-TV)",
      "url": "https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/ohio-state-university/ohio-state-university-does-not-have-active-attacker/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ohio State accidentally sends out false 'active attacker' notification (Cleveland19)",
      "url": "https://www.cleveland19.com/2023/06/02/ohio-state-accidentally-sends-out-false-active-attacker-notification/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "OSU sends out accidental emergency Buckeye Alert (ABC6)",
      "url": "https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/osu-sends-out-accidental-emergency-buckeye-alert-active-attacker-on-near-campus-system-maintenence-test-columbus",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "accidental-alert",
    "false-alarm",
    "buckeye-alert",
    "emergency-notification",
    "public-r1",
    "ohio",
    "vendor-error",
    "system-maintenance",
    "correction",
    "active-attacker"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-06-20",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-06-20",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}