An unauthorized alert bearing a mysterious message that was sent to cell phones in several states across Brazil on Saturday morning is suspected to be the work of hackers, the Brazilian government said.
Devices lit up with the word “misantropi4,” an alphanumeric spelling of the Portuguese word “misantropia,” which in English translates to “misanthropy.” The final letter “a” was substituted with a number ‘4’ – a practice often used by hackers and termed “leetspeak.”
The alert – categorized as “extreme” – was initially received in the southern state of Paraná, but a second warning was triggered a few minutes later for cell phones in the major cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Brazilian authorities said that the National Civil Defense’s warning platform was taken offline after being targeted by a likely hacker attack, and the government is working to restore the tool once all security conditions are reestablished.
The false alert was remotely triggered by someone who is not part of the National Civil Protection and Defense System, according to a statement from Brazil’s National Civil Defense.
“The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack,” the agency’s statement said.
São Paulo Civil Defense said in a statement that the alert was not sent by any of its agents and, so far, there is no record of any incident justifying the issuance of an extreme alert related to the reported content.
The statement also said that the Cellbroadcast tool, which is used to send severe and extreme alerts, is managed by Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) and has been temporarily disabled. The São Paulo Civil Defense said it has contacted Anatel and other institutions involved in the system’s operation to investigate the origin of the message.
CNN Brasil contacted Anatel and has not yet received a response.
In addition to the alert through the Cellbroadcast platform, residents of the city of São Paulo also reported receiving a message with the same content via SMS.
In Paraná, the state government said the alert was not triggered by the state’s Civil Defense and there are no severe events forecasted for Curitiba. The state said it contacted the National Civil Defense and Anatel about the case.
Reforesting Rio de Janeiro
Meanwhile, the Rio de Janeiro Civil Defense confirmed that no official alert was issued and said the message received by users “results from instability in the IDAP/Cellbroadcast alert sending system, a platform under the responsibility of the National Civil Defense, linked to the Federal Government.”
The agency also said there is no at-risk situation related to natural disasters that justified issuing an alert to the people of Rio de Janeiro and that they continue to monitor the situation. Residents of Rio also reported receiving an SMS message related to the alert.
CNN’s Marcelo Medeiros contributed to this report.
