Ten false alerts sent by Civil Defense between Friday night and Saturday dawn reached about 30 million people in seven states and the Federal District. The Federal Police are investigating the system invasion.
The Civil Defense Alerta system was targeted in an invasion that resulted in messages containing terms like “misantropia” and “alien invasion”. The dispatches occurred between 11:41 p.m. on Friday, June 19, and 1:23 a.m. on Saturday, June 20, using cell broadcast technology and SMS.
The messages reached residents in capitals such as Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Campo Grande, Curitiba, Rio Branco, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo, as well as interior municipalities in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Mato Grosso do Sul. The first alert was issued in Paraná.
National Secretary of Civil Protection and Defense Wolnei Wolff stated that everything indicates a hacker attack. The platform was taken offline around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday and remains suspended until security conditions are restored. Google updated Maps after the false alerts were incorporated into the platform.
The Federal Police opened a preliminary investigation to determine if the action was by a single person or a group. Anatel is also participating in the inquiries.
