Days After Hawaii's False Missile Alarm, a New One in Japan (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Japan's public broadcaster on Tuesday accidentally sent news alerts that North Korea had launched a missile and that citizens should take shelter -- just days after the government of Hawaii had sent a similar warning to its citizens. The broadcaster, NHK, corrected itself five minutes later and apologized for the error on its evening news (Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source). The initial texts cited J-Alert, a system used by the government to issue warnings to its citizens about missiles, tsunamis and other natural disasters. But NHK later said that the system was not to blame for the false alarm. Makoto Sasaki, a spokesman for NHK, apologized, saying that "staff had mistakenly operated the equipment to deliver news alerts over the internet."

Comments

All part of NK's plan....

[Anonymous Coward]

.... after enough people have cried wolf, NK can then proceed to do far more massive harm than they otherwise would because a lot of people will not take any incoming missile warnings seriously.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[Archtech]

A 10 kiloton warhead in the centre of any city would cause at least 45,000 immediate deaths and about 250,000 injuries. That's a warhead smaller than either of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombs.

With a standard 300 kiloton warhead you would have over 600,000 immediate deaths and over 2 million injuries.

How much good is it going to do to "take warnings seriously"?

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[Anonymous Coward]

To the extent that taking shelter can save lives, taking it seriously could do a whole lot of good. It might not matter right at ground zero, but it sure would make a difference to people not that much further away.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[Humbubba]

If Japan and Hawaii's missile alarm systems had been compromised by hacker savvy North Koreans, the respective governments wouldn't tell us. That would cause widespread panic. Telling the public it was 'human error' is their only option. Just sayin'.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[gnick]

A 10 kiloton warhead in the centre of any city would cause at least 45,000 immediate deaths and about 250,000 injuries.

Huh? You're making an identical estimate for NYC & Muleshoe, TX? The average population for a US city isn't anywhaere near 250,000. Maybe you're going off a list of likely targets? Where in the world are these numbers coming from?

How much good is it going to do to "take warnings seriously"?

Depends. Your odds are better in a bomb shelter than operating a hot dog cart when a bomb hits, but whether it actually does you any good depends on a lot of things. If you're in Seoul and NK starts firing conventional artillery at you, taking the warning seriously could save your life.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[ShanghaiBill]

Taking shelter can make a big difference. We can learn a lot from what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. People in the open were much more likely to be killed. But shelter helped a lot more in Nagasaki, where most buildings were stone, rather than in Hiroshima, where most were wood. Nagasaki was hit by a bigger bomb (20kT vs 15kT) but fewer people died because there was no firestorm like Hiroshima experienced.

Anyway, I think we are way past the point where anyone is going to take these stupid "alerts" seriously. I heard that less than 5% of Hawaiians actually took shelter, and every false alarm is going to diminish that further.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[Anonymous Coward]

if north korean hackers were behind this, they wouldn't advertise it via a competing nation's missile alert systems. just sayin'.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[slashrio]

Give me one good reason why NK would want to do that without being attacked first by the USA and I won't consider you hysterical.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[mark-t]

What percentage of Hawaiians actually knew about the alert between the time it was sent and the time an announcement of the error was made?

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[AHuxley]

Think of the contractor over time to ensure it was not NK once political leaders can be told it might be NK cyber.
The testing of every gov network.
Interviewing all cleared mil and gov staff.
Creating a profile of all staff to see who might be swayed by NK?
Its win win win for contractors once a person in gov accepts the NK cyber part.
A lot of well politically well connected mil and gov contractors would really like a new reason to sell their services to any gov, mil. NK is a great way to start that conversation and offer the new products and services to understand what NK did.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[ShanghaiBill]

What percentage of Hawaiians actually knew about the alert between the time it was sent and the time an announcement of the error was made?

Everyone with an 808 area code cellphone that was turned on. Likely 90% of the adult population of Hawaii.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[slashrio]

Nothing to do with why NK would send a nuclear bomb loaded rocket to USA, Japan or SK.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you saying: if they were behind this (and had hacked the missile alert systems), then they wouldn’t advertise it (by hacking the missile alert systems)?

Seems like a contradiction.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah i caught it too after posting. my original message prior to lazy editing read "if north korea had state sponsored hackers worth a damn, they wouldn't advertise it via a competing nation's missile alert systems". I think most people got the point though.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[AHuxley]

Contractors don't need a why when selling their cyber products to a gov, mil.
The "what if" NK was doing cyber is the message to push a sale to the gov/mil with.
Sell and rent the software, hardware, experts, get overtime and its all good again.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[mark-t]

That's a reasonable estimate on the percentage that received the message... but not necessarily what percentage actually happened to see the message before the retraction notice was made.

My phone is on all the time too, but unless I'm actually doing something with my phone at the time that it arrives, I often I don't see text messages for 20 to 30 minutes or sometimes even longer.

Re:All part of NK's plan....

[Humbubba]

An A.C. said

Are you saying: if they were behind this (and had hacked the missile alert systems), then they wouldnt advertise it (by hacking the missile alert systems)? Seems like a contradiction.

First of all, let me say I approve of the feculence you reprobates manage to dreg up. If I could, you would have my vote, as my points are due to expire this evening. But /. won't let me give credit where I've gone before. And let me confess I've had to drastically cut this response down, eliminating references to Steve Bannon and the s*hole (house?) that sits on Pennsylvania Avenue. Too much fun.

I thought I said if North Korea did the hacks, it was a message meant for the president and the prime minister of Japan, not the general public. The Hoi polloi were put in a panic as part of the warning. I'm speculating wildly, of course, but North Korea does have some of the best hackers on the planet. Don't take my word for it, Google 'em.

North Korea didn't make any public announcements about owning the incident. They never do. And our side puts out news stories blaming 'user error', first in Hawaii, then Japan. One after another. What a coincidence! Even though a 'user error' like this hasn't happened for decades, if ever.

If the hacking of the missile alert systems were an advertisement meant for us plebeians, it would have some of us asking, 'what else have they gotten into?'

They're seeing what happens

[DNS-and-BIND]

I believe these false alerts are deliberate, and are being used to see what happens when people think there's an attack. These false alerts also act to discredit the real alerts, if God forbid one ever comes. The whole thing is deeply disconcerting, and I hope a patriotic leaker comes forward with the real story to Wikileaks.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[drinkypoo]

I believe these false alerts are deliberate, and are being used to see what happens when people think there's an attack.

When people said that after the Hawaii alert, I thought it was unfounded. Now that it's happened again so rapidly, I think that's a credible idea. These could also be political acts, however, being done to make a point about NK.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Anonymous Coward]

His name was Seth Rich.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[AmiMoJo]

There was a mistaken warning about an earthquake sent out a few weeks ago too, but I guess it's not a missile so it wasn't seen as a big deal. Basically there were two small earthquakes separated by a few minutes and not too far apart, which the system decided was one big earthquake and sent out the alert.

The general feeling seemed to be "better safe than sorry".

Re:They're seeing what happens

[chadenright]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it...

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty...

Recognize these words? Your words are significantly at odds with the high standards set forth at the founding of the United States of America. You should think about that for a bit.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[XxtraLarGe]

I believe these false alerts are deliberate, and are being used to see what happens when people think there's an attack.

I've heard a few conspiracies, including that the Hawaii debacle was done on purpose to make Trump look bad. However, since we shouldn't be quick to attribute malice to what can be explained by incompetence, it's easy enough for me to believe a government worker screwed up.

These false alerts also act to discredit the real alerts, if God forbid one ever comes. The whole thing is deeply disconcerting, and I hope a patriotic leaker comes forward with the real story to Wikileaks.

I could see your point if this happened a few times, but I think having it happen once is a good thing. The vast majority of Hawaiians probably had no idea what to do in this case. You could see it in all of the YouTube videos posted out there. I'm sure a lot of them have now taken stock in where they will go & what they should do if the real thing happens, which they hadn't considered before.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Anonymous Coward]

There was a mistaken warning about an earthquake sent out a few weeks ago too...there were two small earthquakes separated by a few minutes and not too far apart, which the system decided was one big earthquake and sent out the alert.

So there was not a "mistaken warning about an earthquake" but a failure to send out two warnings, or a concern over magnitude of the warning. Both are not the same as a missile warning when there were zero missiles of any size or impact.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Anonymous Coward]

Those words were written by white supremacists, without the input of the Afro-American community. I'm sorry but reading a document written by the 18th century equivalent of Richard Spencer doesn't fill me with patriotism. It fills me with disgust and rage at those racist, slave-raping pricks that people still glorify them.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[i_ate_god]

And the purpose of doing this would be what exactly?

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Anonymous Coward]

You left out a pretty important part. ...and to institute new Government. The founders didn't just say we don't want a monarchy, they actually had a plan for a replacement. They weren't looking for anarchy. I know that wasn't your point, but there are people out there who like to forget that last part. The funny thing is, they wrote the constitution to allow it to be altered. So theoretically, we will never need to abolish it since we can just alter it.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[gnick]

I believe these false alerts are deliberate...

...I think that's a credible idea.

Hanlon's razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Do you think Japan & Hawaii coordinated these experiments or that they came up with the same idea independently? Seems far-fetched to me.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[AmiMoJo]

They only send warnings for large quakes where there is some specific risk, like a tsunami or mud slides or just enough shaking to damage buildings. There are smaller quakes every single day, and a lot of the time you don't even notice them.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Killall -9 Bash]

What were Africans doing at the time? They were rounding up their brothers, and selling them to the Dutch, Spanish, and English. Don't crack open a history book, otherwise you might learn that the people in north Africa have been selling slaves (including whites) since B.C.

Go back to Africa. See if they welcome you with open arms... or if they machete you to death because the 40% African in you is from the wrong tribe.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Anonymous Coward]

I could see your point if this happened a few times, but I think having it happen once is a good thing. The vast majority of Hawaiians probably had no idea what to do in this case. You could see it in all of the YouTube videos posted out there. I'm sure a lot of them have now taken stock in where they will go & what they should do if the real thing happens, which they hadn't considered before.

Which would support the idea that someone could think it was a good thing to do in order to scare people into being ready for the real thing. Though the downside is that people are going to be more likely to think it is another false alarm next time... so I too err on the side that this was likely just an error.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[jaxn]

Oh honey, Trump doesn't need Hawaii's help to look bad.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[sexconker]

Hanlon's razor [wikipedia.org]: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

That's just what a malicious actor wants you to think.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Anne Thwacks]

otherwise you might learn that the people in north Africa have been selling slaves (including whites) since B.C.

Or, if you were to look outside of /., you would find that in a lot of North Africa and the Arab world, nothing has changed in this regard. Saudis selling African slaves (and killing or castrating them) has been much in the news over the past week.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[sexconker]

They're real alerts. NK is firing missiles, but we're shooting them down with lasers (from satellites, not sharks).
We can't pull the plug on the alerts without revealing our hand. And there's always the possibility that we fail to zap one.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Anne Thwacks]

Go back to Africa. See if they welcome you with open arms... or if they machete you to death because the 40% African in you is from the wrong tribe.

In most of Africa (ie those parts where there is no actual declared war), the murder rate is significantly lower than in the USA (much the same as in Europe).

Re:They're seeing what happens

[DNS-and-BIND]

Yaknow, I thought it was far-fetched that a CNN moderator would cheat and give Hillary Clinton the debate questions beforehand. It's like something the villain would do in a Charlie Brown cartoon special. But it happened.

I thought it was far-fetched that a senior Politico journalist, a serious man with serious credibility, would run his articles past the Democrats before publishing. But it happened. His punishment? He was hired by the New York Times after the election.

I thought it was far-fetched that several of the nation's largest and most influential news outlets spread an explosive but completely false news story to millions of people, while refusing to provide any explanation of how it happened. But that happened too. So my idea of far-fetched is a lot narrower than it used to be. There really are conspiracies out there, and they really do operate like this.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[sysrammer]

A good way I've found to Occam it is...

1. Once is happenstance
2. Twice is coincidence.
3. Thrice? Now we have a pattern.

It's similar to music.

1. One note is a melody.
2. Two notes are an interval.

Neither of those are enough to signify the key of the music.

3. Three notes sets the key.

Now there's a pattern to work with.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Anonymous Coward]

To quote a wise man, "Shut up, Mr. i_ate_god! You were not brought upon this world to get it!"

Just because you can't immediately figure out a purpose doesn't mean that there is no purpose. Are you really that self absorbed?

Re:They're seeing what happens

[Anonymous Coward]

I would like to subscribe to your orangutan.

Re:They're seeing what happens

[i_ate_god]

> Just because you can't immediately figure out a purpose doesn't mean that there is no purpose. Are you really that self absorbed?

er, I was asking what the supposed purpose is, not denying that there is no purpose. O_o

Itâ(TM)s just a prank, bro

[Anonymous Coward]

Just a prank!

Hah

[bruce_the_loon]

Let me guess, the conversation went as follows.

Boss - Show me our system can't make the same mistake what the Hawaii one did.
Operator - It can't boss, look. First you click here, then here and then her.. oh shit, oh shit, shit.
Boss - <running in circles> Make it stop, make it stop.

my animes

[Anonymous Coward]

noooooooo

OLD news

[Anonymous Coward]

Not even recent. This is several days old...

They're seeing what happens:Vapor Rub.

[Anonymous Coward]

Alerts are kind of pointless. They give you enough time to kiss your ass goodbye.

Re:They're seeing what happens:Vapor Rub.

[Archtech]

Especially if, as apparently in Hawaii, there are no shelters designed to resist thermonuclear attack.

After all, it's not as if they were real Americans.

Re:They're seeing what happens:Vapor Rub.

[Anonymous Coward]

Especially because not building a concrete bunker a mile underground on a volcanic island, is clearly a matter of "racism".

Re:They're seeing what happens:Vapor Rub.

[aaarrrgggh]

The H3 tunnel is technically designed a shelter, although there are obviously no supplies and it is likely more dangerous to get there than just stay put and work on your tan.

Re:They're seeing what happens:Vapor Rub.

[thejeffwhite]

There are nuclear fallout shelters in Hawaii. You can easily find them as you walk around the downtown area. I lived on O'ahu for several years, and I admit I'm not aware of any shelters elsewhere on the island. But I do know that the island is home to 8 military bases, so I'm sure there are plenty of other shelters I'm not aware of.

password on sticky note Warningpoint2

[Joe_Dragon]

password on sticky note Warningpoint2

Once is happenstance...

[Archtech]

Twice is coincidence...

Watch this spot.

Re:Once is happenstance...

[sexconker]

A communications disruption can mean only one thing!

Mobile Phone Presidential False Alert Next?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've long wondered what would happen if a presidential alert was accidentally sent. Most all newer mobile phones intended for use in the U.S. will respond to such alerts. Presidential alerts can't be turned off on non-rooted phones. I could easily envision someone doing this as a jab to the Trump administration.

Hopefully, national presidential alerts are better safeguarded than many state and local based alerts. Incompetence abounds. Even after the event. According to some articles I've read, the state of Hawaii released a screenshot of their emergency alert interface a couple of days ago, but now says that image was a fake one. Then they release another so-called screenshot, but it's not of the actual screen. It's a mock-up of what the actual screen supposedly looks like. Sure. Wager the first screenshot is the real one.

What is the Hawaii state government hiding? Likely, it was more than just operator error. The software GUI is likely as terrible as many imagine; lack of adequate procedures and safeguards to ensure only real alerts are sent. Or maybe that's just all a cover for a test to see how the population would respond to a real alert. Strange an alleged "test" message would include the phrase "THIS IS NOT A DRILL." Doesn't make sense. Maybe there's nothing to it, but seems suspect.

that's a good way to keep your citizens scared...

[Anonymous Coward]

to be able to pass any laws that you want....

Ob Sampson quote

[Anonymous Coward]

ha hah!
-Nelson Mundella

Obligatory stereotype

[DontBeAMoran]

Makoto Sasaki, a spokesman for NHK, apologized, saying that "staff had mistakenly operated the equipment to deliver news alerts over the internet." NHK is now looking for new staff to replace the old one that commited seppuku.

GOZIRA!

[Zorro]

Nuclear monsters inbound, take shelter!

It's a process problem

[Bryansix]

Yes, a government worker made a mistake. However the larger issue here was the bad user interface design and the lack of programmatic dual authorization controls.

On the UI side, the interface simply consisted of a bunch of hyperlinks in no particular order with test messages and real messages interspersed. Upon clicking a link, the page just asked if you were sure you wanted to send a message but didn't show what the message actually was. It allowed one operator to make all the decisions with no oversight.

On the process side, the agency could have implemented a requirement to document two people being present and agreeing to send out a particular message. The company I work at does that all the time. A better solution would be to have dual authorization built right into the UI. One operator could select and confirm a message after seeing a draft of what would be sent. Then it could go into a queue for approval by a second operator who could approve it to actually be sent. If both operators are present, this would delay the message by only a few seconds.

Re:It's a process problem

[AHuxley]

What did the contractor build for the local gov?
A GUI on a computer with "test" and "alarm" on a mouse click? A touch screen with two easy to read options?
The every shift test system should be easy to get to.
The alarm button use should be a bit more considered than selecting the test function?
Some sort of industrial control buttons on a more impressive looking design?
The "test" and "alarm" button are next too each other and the same color, size and type of easy to use button?

Another example why 'alerts' are useless

[k6mfw]

Only kind of alert I think may be useful are one of those radios that respond when NOAA NWS sends out a tornado warning. Other than that, I think last time aerial bombardment alerts were useful was in WWII, or maybe first Gulf War of incoming Scud missiles. Airstrikes these days are first realized at bombstrikes, an incoming missile with nuclear bomb... not sure what to do about that.

I remember signing up for county alerts only to get late at night (and wow I didn't know cellphone can be that loud) a missing child alert in a area that is miles from where I live. On the landline a lengthy "voicemail" for a BOL of someone again miles from where I live. I think much of these should use local radio and TV stations (and they have websites as well) which get the word out for missing people. Of course police have BOLs for stolen cars (not sure how many are actually spotted), probably most useful are incidents that just occurred. And then there are reckless driver alerts, you know the stereotypical black BMW weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people off, rude hand gestures.

I'm thinking about that incident when millions of NYC residents were woken at 2 am for a stolen car alert.

Re:Another example why 'alerts' are useless

[sexconker]

I had emergency alerts enabled where I work. I very quickly disabled them.

The first issue is that the vast majority of the alerts were not relevant to where I worked, but were for a neighboring area.
They quickly implemented a filter to let people subscribe to 2 different lists to try and separate those out. They still bled over.

The second issue was that the vast majority of the emergency alerts were for non emergencies. I don't like being awoken at 3 AM to hear about an attempted bike theft or an alleged altercation between 2 drunk kids or a report of someone maybe carrying a rifle (which is perfectly legal, and turned out to be absolute bunk anyway).

The third issue was that when there was an actual emergency, the alerts didn't come out until hours after the fact. Twitter / Snapchat / Vince / Facebook etc. had all the info as it was happening. News crews were thee in minutes. The alert system designed to keep me safe? Absolutely worthless. So I disabled them entirely.

Then a few months later they forced them on for everyone and I had to go in and put in fake info to disable it.

The same shit is true with amber alerts and whatnot. I turn that shit off. I'm sorry, but the odds of me being in a position to help find a child at 3 AM, two counties over, in a "dark colored truck or van" are pretty low. I similarly don't need to be warned about thunderstorms or flash floods or whatnot. I can see that it's raining, thank you. I only have the imminent/critical/whatever option enabled. That too was going off frequently (and with false info a few times) during the California fires, and was being sent to people miles away.

These systems are more of a nuisance than a help. Fuck em.

Re:Another example why 'alerts' are useless

[AHuxley]

Re "The alert system designed to keep me safe?"
It kept overtime support and upgrades to the alert system safe.

NHK is Japanese media maffia

[Anonymous Coward]

distorting billions of yen out of ordinary Japanese and they still cannot properly do their job.
Protected by that other gang of outlaws (politicians), there is not a damn thing anyone can do about it.

Different from Hawaii case.

[zioncat]

This was not a "false missile alarm" or any kind of fault in J-Alert system. This was news organization (NHK) mistakenly publishing a pre-written news piece, kinda like when premature obituaries occur. That is not to say there hasn't been a mistake in J-Alert testing producing a false missile alarm. In fact it has happened several times already:

4/19/2017 in Osaki, Miyagi. False missile warning broadcasted over loud speakers while testing of J-Alert system. Correction issued after 6 minutes.

9/8/2017 in Yokkaichi, Mie. False missile warning sent over radio while testing of J-Alert system. Correction issued after 10 minutes.

9/14/2017 in Minamisoma, Fukushima. False missile warning distributed over email while testing of J-Alert system. Correction issued after 7 minutes.

But this time it was not a mistake in J-Alert system, so all the conspiracy theorist can shove it.

Reminds me of that Star Trek TOS episode

[Plumpaquatsch]

The attacks are virtual, the people calculated to be dead will "disappear" soon.