Slashdot Mirror
Local Emergency Alert System Hacked, Warns Dead Rising From Graves
First time accepted submitter Rawlsian writes "Great Falls, Montana, television station KRTC issued a denial of an Emergency Alert System report that 'dead bodies are rising from their graves.' The denial surmises that 'someone apparently hacked into the Emergency Alert System...This message did not originate from KRTV, and there is no emergency.'"
Gotta get to the shopping mall. Stop at the sporting goods store and pick up some weapons and ammo. The zombies will feast on the easier targets for 30 days or so.
Those systems that were never meant to go on the internet were somehow available on the internet? It's too bad some broadcast stations don't know when to air-gap
If computers were people, I'd be a misanthrope.
The hacker needs his computer inventory confiscated and busted down to flip phone tech. This is no different than joyriding the fire trucks. The system is there for emergencies, and crap like this devalues it's emergency status.
Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
Sounds like a guerilla and somewhat illegal promo for The Walking Dead.
Supposedly this is the capture of the hacked broadcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc60XPCXrh8
The preceding line was intentionally left blank.
KXLH in Helena reported the same,
http://www.kxlh.com/news/bogus-emergency-alert-message-transmitted/
they may be sister stations that share an EAS infrastructure?
It's been a few years since I worked down there, but EAS always seemed like pretty primitive tech. One of the last remaining bastions of serial printer ports as I recall. It is (or was a few years ago) ugly, annoying, tended to chop the ends off of messages, and many of the weather service alerts either were for somewhere entirely remote from us, or were so garbled that they were incomprehensible.
I'm entirely unsurprised that it's easy to hack in to EAS.
Three Squirrels
This message did not originate from KRTV, and there is no emergency
those are some wily zombies
how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
Stupid American Fundies top themselves becuase they cant believe they were left behind and fear what was comming.
Nothing of any value was lost.
Now when the REAL zombie apocalypse arrives, everyone will assume it's just another prank...
So, Umbrella is already covering it up.
Be warned: the original report was genuine. The denial is issued by zombies.
Signed:
The Anti Zombie protection league
You can't stop the signal. You can never... stop... the signal.
And remember not to run up stairs to escape them, leaving you stranded on the roof like EVERY FUCKING MOVIE IN EXISTANCE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I28e0IqIgPc -- KRTV out of Great Falls, Montana.
I think these gentle reminders about security are great and are part of the spirit of hacking.
Which would the USA rather have: (a) goofball hackers create a zombie panic, or (b) our next enemy uses a coordinated attack to create actual panic?
Reminds me of the infamous "War of the Worlds" broadcast by Orson Welles.
Futurist Traditionalism
Someone has some giant balls. This is pretty funny actually. I just hope no one gets hurt that was innocent. I don't care if assholes die though. :)
http://www.facebook.com/uppermichiganssource
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Uh huh. I'm not falling for their cover-up!
Somebody must have changed the date on the hackers' machines to April 1st...
First the undead rise from their graves. Then the establishment covers it up. And it's not a coincidence that there are shortages and limits on ammo.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
In fairness, it has always been possible to cry wolf. We try not to put security validation in the middle of high stress emergency situations. If you call some place and tell them there is a bomb, they will bring in the police and bomb squad to investigate, no matter whether they think it is real or not. On a firing range ANYONE can call cease fire. Anyone can call 911. Anyone can get on aviation's 121.5 "guard" channel to call for help.
But if you are crying wolf, you can expect to pay a heavy price for your behavior. People take this stuff seriously, no matter what it is, no matter who is calling.
It may seem funny that someone discovered how to make a phony zombie attack on the EAS, but believe me, the authorities aren't laughing.
This is one instance where it is probably legitimate to go easy on the security posturing and consider that when you are up to your ass in alligators you are not going to remember a password or find a key you haven't used in months.
When the Zombies do come, there's no real point in fighting or running, eventually they will win.
A back line in the Stones 'Start Me Up' goes:
'U Make A Dead Man Cum'.
Guess there is a foul oder in the air at Great Falls, Montana this night. :D
And tsk, tsk. What can I say, it's a battle between the young and the old internal geeks.
I also note sadly to myself that my old geek would scold, while the current enforcement mindset would encourage terrorist charges. And also noting that the fact that I would even _think about that_ is fucking sad.
"Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world." - Alan Greenspan, 1999
Amazing that this got through to the front page of /. in the same week that it happened!
*Still* negative function...
Didn't you know? There's been a run lately on guns and ammunition with all the talk about enacting stricter gun control laws. Many stores are out of stock. Best of luck dude!
You really think that the people who designed this system meant for it to be this accessible? Seriously? I most sincerely doubt it, this is most likely the result of poor security choices, perhaps even as simple as using a weak password, by those local officials you placed on a pedestal.
What you had to say was naive, nigh propagandist-level. How you got "insightful", I'll never know.
Sounds like a test of the voting system the Republicans are planning to have in place for 2014. ;-)
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Hmm good look finding the source of this, I know the type of engineers television stations hire and I suspect inside job. Just be sure to check with the zombie alert engineers they may have had something to do with this.
They're coming soon. Maybe you should think twice about opening the door.
Zombies exist and they do want your brains. In exchange, you get an imaginary friend or two, or three, or more. You may even become a zombie yourself for a time, going from house to house trying to infect the living. It depends on the sort of zombie that comes to your door and what book(s) he/she/it may be carrying - or clothing they may [or may not] be wearing - or the following he/she/it may represent.
Most local TV stations are already air gapped.
Not the equipment. The air gap is usually between the ears of the anchor
Zombie Radio Announcer: "... there is no emergency. Send more Slashdotters ..."
Instead of the oblig. xkcd:
The walking dead
This hack is clearly an invocation of the Emergency Alert System. The EAS is a hierarchically-organized digital message propagation system that has no authentication scheme for the vast majority of the nodes that participate in the network. Since every moderately-sized licensed broadcast radio and TV station in the United States is required to participate in the network, that is a lot of attackable nodes.
The hierarchy is easy to exploit if you wish to spoof an alert on a specific station. All you need to know is the specific list of stations that your target listens to for alerts and a mobile radio transmitter that you can position relatively closely to your target's EAS receiving equipment. The list of "source" stations for your target is often public information, or can be deduced very easily. (Search for "<city> eas plan" in your favorite search engine.) The radio transmitter required is nothing more than a VHF two-way radio, which can often be a "modded" Amateur Radio which can transmit outside of the legal Amateur bands.
Step 4 (transmission) is extremely easy, even with low-powered equipment (250mW). Because of your proximity and the FM Capture Effect you will have no problem overpowering the real source station without adversely affecting or alerting anyone outside a 1/2 mile radius.
My guess is the attackers here did precisely this. They probably exploited this TV station by spoofing a local NOAA weather radio channel that the TV station was listening to for alerts.
They also don't take bathroom breaks, don't need time off. Health and safety laws don't apply to them, they're genuinely American (don't forget to bring geo-coded picture of your personal grave), if one or two get caught up in machinery or drop from scaffolding no-one will ask inconvenient questions, and they will work for a few pounds of squishy matter a day that should be easy enough to obtain.
Am I the only one who sees an opportunity here?
{^_-}
I wonder what tone would need to be sent to trigger this system, but hey the tone is sent at the start of the broadcast and now recorded on youtube. Beep, Beep wobble woble tone, zombies are rising...
Die Hard 6 : nope, they don't appear to be dying, oh wait they are undead now.
The dead are back. This time with a vengeance!
Theory: a mad-scientist is developing a zombie virus and has been secretly behind much of the modern popularity for zombie themed fiction and pranks. Zombie walks. Hacking warning signs and systems to display false warnings of zombies. Etc. It's all just a way to wear down our defenses so that when there actually is a massive zombie outbreak nobody will believe it.
Zombie warnings on the EAS system, on the news, on traffic signs? Haha, funny joke. Zombies walking around in mass downtown or in the mall? Must be a flash mob or something. Oh, one of them is trying to bite me, maybe I should play along...
I, for one welcome our new zombie overl.... . BRAAAAINS!!!!
Seriously in some areas religious primitives might take such a bulletin as the end days and do some really insane things in fits of religious fervor. This hack could have caused great harm.
..and wait for it to blow over.
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
I agree with the insightful posters who are declaring the probable reality of this zombie attack. But how are we to know? Have you ever been to Montana? Do you even know anybody who's been to Montana? Do you even know anybody who knows anybody....well, you get my point. Hell's bells, there could be a high-kicking chorus line of zombies dancing down Main Street in Helena and who would know? Believe me about this. I live in Ohio. I know about states that nobody visits.
There are tactical advantages to being able to hack into that system, but doing something so obvious only draws attention to that, and that is tactically dumb.
After all, the next pope will be the last one. http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/St-Malachy-predicted-Pope-Benedicts-successor-will-be-last-pope-190715001.html
Bet a lot of Montana /.ers who were watching soiled themselves. Hope the FCC catches up with these dickheads and throws the book at them!
My karma is bad. Don't get too close!!!