On the night of June 20, hackers broke into Brazil's national civil defense alert system Defesa Civil Alerta, scaring thousands of residents across several states. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Thousands of residents in several states suddenly heard a loud alarm signal on their smartphones – even in silent mode. A short message appeared on screens with the word 'misantropia' (or in hacker style 'misantropi4'). The word means hatred or disgust for humanity. Officially, there was no real disaster. Authorities immediately shut down the system to stop further broadcasts.
Defesa Civil Nacional confirmed: 'The platform was invaded. The message was sent remotely by a person or group not related to the system. It is likely a hacker attack.' The case was handed over to the Federal Police.
The incident began in the state of Paraná and then affected São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, the Federal District, and other regions. The system uses Cell Broadcast technology – it sends messages to all phones in the coverage area without subscription and does not require internet. At the 'emergency alert level,' the phone emits a loud sound similar to a siren.
The news quickly spread on social media. Many residents initially thought of a real disaster, then started joking. Some media and users added drama and spoke of an alien invasion, but official sources did not report this – the actual message only contained the word 'misantropia.'
Brazil's Ministry of Integration and Regional Development promised to restore the system only after a full security review. Experts noted that the incident revealed the vulnerability of critical state infrastructure.
Kazakhstan also has its own alert system – for earthquakes. The Almaty akimat, by the way, spent 583 million tenge on it.