Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
1–10 of 52 posts
Re: Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
#2> http://www.wfsb.com/story/35104169/no-cause-for-alarm-false-...
Possibly another hack in CT yesterday as well.
Re: Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
#3Video with sound: https://twitter.com/deadlyblonde/status/850576467234869248
Re: Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
#4When I helped run a college radio station as a student, one if the things I had to check on was the Emergency Alert System (EAS). It's the system that cuts into your broadcast and allows emergency personnel to transmit information over TV and radio.
Maybe it was specific to our setup, but our station was assigned two other stations to listen to for EAS alert tones. If the box heard the tones it would flip a relay and broadcast the audio from the station it heard the tones on. If you drove by the station with and FM transmitter and replayed the EAS tones, you could transmit whatever you want. I imagine the stronger FM stations have a bit more security than we did, but it always striked me as a rather vulnerable system.
Re: Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
#5I've heard that the tornado siren system in my locality is protected by a short DTMF code transmitted over a licensed radio frequency.
Re: Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
#6When I helped run a college radio station as a student, one if the things I had to check on was the Emergency Alert System (EAS). It's the system that cuts into your broadcast and allows emergency personnel to transmit information over TV and radio. Maybe it was specific to our setup, but our station was assigned two other stations to listen to for EAS alert tones. If the box heard the tones it would flip a relay and…
Growing up, the audio tone for that signal was etched into my brain over the course of numerous Saturday mornings, when I woke up early enough to hear the tests. This was before cable was normal. Sometimes it felt like the dial-tone-like noise drilled into your ears for a solid 90 seconds.
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOVwgKmzROw
The new sound is even worse (and seemingly longer), and I imagine it's signal (which sounds more like fax machine squelches than an alert noise) has been crafted to prevent incidents like you describe.
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llrkn2ASVNQ
Also, to prevent deliberate piracy, which was something of an urban legend, but with real, known examples, like the Chicago Max Headroom instance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWdgAMYjYSs
It's interesting, because I had always thought the noises were intended to capture the interest of viewers, since it sounds like something of an alarm. It never occurred to me that it might be a system-level control signal. Which makes much more sense now, since the tests were called out as tests, and not drills to prompt viewer activity.
It's funny, because after decades and decades of listening to the test drills, on 9/11 I had expected to hear it cutting in, but it was largely absent and unused. The only time I've ever heard it for real, was during weather-related situations like hurricanes.
Re: Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
#7I was in Dallas when this happened. I can attest to the eeriness of sirens going off all over town with no idea what they mean. In Texas we're accustomed to tornado sirens, but when the skies are clear and they are going off, makes you wonder what might be happening - especially when it lasts for over an hour.
But what really struck me was how much we expect instant information these days. Took over 30 minutes to figure out what was happening. No coverage on local news, no "reverse 911" alerts indicating a problem (or lack thereof). Google eventually surfaced a tweet by the Dallas Morning News indicating it was a false alarm and they were asking city hall for answers.
Not sure what the protocol is for alerting people not to mind the blaring alarms, but seems like something should have happened given that 311 and 911 were overwhelmed with inquiries.
Re: Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
#8I've heard that the tornado siren system in my locality is protected by a short DTMF code transmitted over a licensed radio frequency.
A quick google confirms this. I live in Michigan and there is a discussion here:https://forums.radioreference.com/michigan-radio-discussion-... about the frequencies used for the tornado systems. Not quite sure if they have changed since the post and discussion was made in 2004?
Re: Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
#9> At its peak, the call volume and a short-staffed call center pushed wait times as high as six minutes—the city's goal is to answer most 911 calls within 10 seconds.
This is why we can't have nice hacks.
Re: Hackers set off Dallas’ 156 emergency sirens over a dozen times
#10My first inclination is to say "good". My thought is that maybe incidents like this will get governments (actually everyone) to take security more seriously.
But, realistically, I'm forced to change to "bad". What I know will happen is there will be a bunch of hand wringing, minor panic, etc. Followed by a request for money. Lots of money. Lots and lots of money.
That money will go to cronies at companies that specialize in government contracts. Most of the money will be pissed away, aka legally stolen. And we'll only be very slightly better off (if that) than before these hacks happened.