National Civil Defense says system was hacked and triggered false alert; see what is known

Residents of various cities in Brazil receive false Civil Defense alert Residents of different regions of the country reported receiving, between Friday night (19) and the early hours of this Saturday (20), extreme sound alerts and text messages attributed to Civil Defense. The case drew attention due to its unusual content: on some cell phones, only the word "misanthropy" appeared; on others, disconnected messages with spelling errors. The National Civil Defense informed that the Civil Defense Alert platform was taken offline at 1:30 AM this Saturday (20), after suffering an invasion.

According to the agency, the broadcast was made remotely by someone without authorization and may have been the result of a hacker attack. "The National Secretariat for Protection and Civil Defense of the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development will contact the Federal Police and take steps to reconnect the system as quickly as possible, once all security conditions are restored," the agency stated. Before the confirmation of the invasion, state authorities had already reported that they had not issued the alerts. Paraná's Civil Defense stated that there was no risk situation and contacted the National Civil Defense and Anatel to investigate the case. São Paulo's Civil Defense also stated that it did not send any message.

The agency informed that the Cell Broadcast technology, used for severe and extreme alerts, is managed by Anatel and said it had contacted the agency. For technology expert Thiago Ayub, Chief Technology Officer at Sage Networks, there are at least two initial hypotheses that can guide the investigation. The first possibility, according to him, is that the software used to receive messages from authorities and forward them to telephone networks was compromised. In this scenario, someone could have accessed the system with legitimate credentials or exploited a flaw to send messages without authorization. The second hypothesis raised by the expert is remote access to computers of public servants who are authorized to operate this system.

In this case, the intruder could impersonate a legitimate user to send the alerts. Ayub points out, however, that these hypotheses help explain how an invasion of this type could have happened, but that there is still no confirmation on who was responsible for sending the messages. Resident of Rio de Janeiro shows extreme alert received on cell phone with the word "misanthropy". Reproduction What does "misanthropy" mean? The word "misanthropy" caught users' attention and became the target of internet searches. According to the Michaelis dictionary, the term means aversion or rejection of humanity, and can also refer to social isolation, melancholy, or deep sadness. On social media, the message quickly became a meme.

Some netizens joked about the situation and associated the alert with fictional scenarios, such as alien invasions and mysterious messages. Initial plugin text Initial plugin text Initial plugin text.