The advantage of fake news
Having had several years of totally ludicrous false news announcements - many of them from the Whitehouse press office - fake messages from N. Korean hackers and Macedonian teenagers will be a releif
The US government is warning of critical vulnerabilities in its Emergency Alert System (EAS) systems that, if exploited, could enable intruders to send fake alerts out over television, radio, and cable networks. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in an advisory it was recently informed about the flaws in EAS …
In Czechoslovakia you don’t need to hack the EAS to cause panic. This was I believe broadcast on the breakfast show where they show Earthcam type footage as part of the programme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzaN2x8qXcM
It was an art group that hacked into the camera used for the panoramas. They recorded the footage added the “special effect” and then added it back to the camera so that played out rather than the live feed.
Those machines have an interesting CVE history https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-12741/product_id-25425/version_id-507295/Monroe-Electronics-R189-One-net-Eas-2.0-0.html
I do wonder how long this flaw might have been around. The system has never been invulnerable.
Many years ago, in a techscape far, far away, I hung out with some brilliant friends who had dubious hobbies. To their credit, they never profited from their antics, or engaged in actual sabotage. Their activities were mostly limited to chatting with lonely shut-ins half a world away and engaging in pranks. Which is leading up to their most infamous exploit.
In the 1970's, they hacked the phone system for Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, here in California. People attempting to call in were routed to an announcement that the call could not be completed due to a state of National Emergency. Somehow, they managed to hack into the call system of at least one local radio station, and interrupt the program with an official-sounding alert from the Emergency Alert System, warning of a nuclear attack on Santa Barbara. While this prank was limited in scope, it caused quite a bit of consternation, and the perpetrators were never caught. (For the record, I haven't encountered any of them in decades, and the statute of limitations has long run out.)
......Provisioning Exotic and Erotic Versions and Revisions of Who Dares Win Wins Great Games Plays
The biggest giveaway was that the email was far too cheery for that editor to have sent it, and the scam was rumbled.
:-) Classic fiasco gold mined by El Reg. That's what make its processing of IT extraordinarily special and most probably why it has such an eclectic and esoteric following and leading readership of critical information heavily into the free abandon which permits them both positive encouraging commentary and negative disparaging scorn alike rousing and raising and dousing and doxxing vital and virally sublime AIRed intelligence feeds and seeds and needs.
Some folk you can help, others you can't because of they way they are built to be always trailing far behind in a world which does not recognise their dogged blinkered views.
Talking of alerts though, and of the vulnerabilities that predate and breed them, is the following a one to be concerned about or excited and energised about and given a wider viewing ....
amanfromMars [2208050815] ...... points out and asks on https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/8/4/nro-air-force-want-tighter-collaboration-for-space-based-isr[Thank you. Your comment will be displayed soon after reviewing.]
Without overwhelming command and control facilities and abilities for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in the virtual cyber space realm are all presumed and assumed leading advantages in all other spheres of practical influence guaranteed lost to both that and those other forces and sources exercising and mastering in such a novel ubiquitous utility.
And such is the unbridled power and rampant energy of that very peculiar and particular novel utility mastery, to ignore its prescience and try to deny its disruptive and creative presence abounding in all theatres of necessary vital ACTive engagement, increasingly quickly aids its stealthy almighty progress.
It does beg a brace of trillion dollar questions ....... What would you like to do about it and/or can anything be done about without it flash crashing present extant SCADA Systems for Administration catastrophically?
....... a wider viewing somewhere honest and where if it says it will be displayed soon after reviewing it does not really mean it may be displayed for viewing, which is something completely different in a whole new ball game which is easily turned crooked if one goes Deep See Phishing unprepared for what is out there.
J'accuse.
When Mt. St. Helens erupted 18 May 1980, the ash cloud drifted across Washington State and into Idaho over about 8-9 hours with no news at all. It was a Sunday, so all the content was pre-loaded, and no one knew how to make the Emergency Broadcast System do anythng other than the test message.