EAS Alarm at midnight caused by a hacker in Brazil
A Reddit user reported an Emergency Alert System (EAS) alarm sounding at midnight, which they found mildly infuriating because the alert was triggered by a hacker operating from Brazil.
Background
The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a US national public warning system that allows authorities to broadcast urgent alerts (weather emergencies, AMBER Alerts, Presidential messages) via TV, radio, and cell phones. It replaced the older Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) in 1997. While designed for official use, the system has been exploited before — notably in 2013 when hackers interrupted a Montana TV station with a fake zombie apocalypse warning. In this latest incident, a Brazilian hacker reportedly gained unauthorized access to EAS equipment and triggered an alert in the middle of the night, causing widespread disruption. The incident highlights a recurring vulnerability: many broadcast facilities still use default or weak passwords on their EAS encoder/decoder units, which interface with national alert networks.