BRASILIA: Brazil's civil defense authority said on June 20 it had disabled its mobile phone emergency alert system after a possible cyberattack sent false alert messages to millions of people overnight.
"The message sent was an Extreme Alert and contained the word 'misanthropy,' meaning hatred of humanity. It was probably a hacker attack," it said in a statement.
Overnight between June 19 and June 20, Brazilians on social media reported being woken up by the loud sound of the alerts typically used for major emergencies.
Civil Defense said the false messages were "remotely ordered by someone outside the national system of protection and civil defence," and delivered to "various regions of the country."
The authority said it called in federal police to investigate, and would work to restore the system as quickly as possible, once its security had been bolstered.
"Everything leads us to believe it was a hacker attack," Civil Defense Secretary Wolnei Wolff told a news conference, adding that "millions" of citizens received the false alerts.
"There is no cause for concern among the public," said the government telecommunications agency, Anatel, in a statement.
Brazil's Civil Defence uses mobile broadcast technology that sends audio and visual alerts that interrupt any activity on a mobile phone – even if it is on silent mode – to get the user's attention.
"Who else was woken up here in Sao Paulo? A cell phone screaming, a maddening beep," actress Monica Iozzi said in an Instagram video. "I thought the world was falling apart." – AFP
