Emergency Alert System devices vulnerable to hacker attacks, researchers say

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236758/Emergency_Alert_System_devices_vulnerable_to_hacker_attacks_researchers_say

By Lucian Constantin
IDG News Service
February 13, 2013

Devices used by many radio and TV stations to broadcast emergency messages as 
part of the U.S. Emergency Alert System (EAS) contain critical vulnerabilities 
that expose them to remote hacker attacks, according to researchers from 
security consultancy firm IOActive.

The EAS is a national public warning system that can be used by the president 
or local and state authorities to deliver emergency information to the general 
public. This information is transmitted by broadcasters, cable television 
systems, wireless cable systems, satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) 
providers, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers.

EAS participants are required to install and maintain special decoding and 
encoding devices on their infrastructure that allow the transmission and relay 
of EAS messages.

IOActive Labs researcher Mike Davis found several critical vulnerabilities in 
EAS devices that are widely used by radio and TV stations nationwide, said 
Cesar Cerrudo, chief technology officer of IOActive, Wednesday via email.

[...]


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