Hawaii Missile Scare False Alarm

[Ben E Lou]

Half the country thought Trump would start WW3. Turns out that the iPhone was almost the culprit today...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">HAWAII - THIS IS A FALSE ALARM. THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE TO HAWAII. I HAVE CONFIRMED WITH OFFICIALS THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE. <a href="https://t.co/DxfTXIDOQs">pic.twitter.com/DxfTXIDOQs</a></p>&mdash; Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) <a href="https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/952243723525677056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[Ben E Lou]

Holy cow. This came over TV as well. This had to be utterly terrifying.

<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The moment the EAS alert interrupted Hawaiian TV is terrifying <a href="https://t.co/pVwpCBeRgD">pic.twitter.com/pVwpCBeRgD</a></p>&mdash; Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) <a href="https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/952246857933221888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[Edward64]

Pretty damn scary.

[Ben E Lou]

says media cannot be played-got another link Ben?I just hit play twice and it gets past the error message.

If you can't get past it, it's the standard emergency message long beep sound, then the standard computerized voice saying stuff like "missile impact within minutes", "this is not a drill", "if you are outside, get inside and stay away from windows", "take immediate action measures", "if you are driving go get inside a building", and so forth

[dubb93]

hxxps://youtu.be/5X-x5KtE9mg

[Ben E Lou]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5X-x5KtE9mg" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Ben E Lou]

Here's a link that shows what it looked like on local ABC, NBC, and CBS broadcasts:

Attention Required! | Cloudflare (https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-terrifying-moment-a-fake-missile-alert-interrupted-hawaiian-tv?via=twitter_page)

[NobodyHere]

The Hawaii governor is saying that a wrong button was pushed during a shift change.

But imagine the confusion if North Korea actually sent a missile right now.

[Shkspr]

I prefer to believe that the threat was real and Five-Oh saved us.

Book 'em, Danno.

[Toddzilla]

That is fucked up.

[Thomkal]

wow that would have been scary to see that from the emergency broadcast system.

[Ben E Lou]

But imagine the confusion if North Korea actually sent a missile right now.or any time soon at all. Or if there’s an earthquake/tsunami. Not good to erode confidence in that system.

[AlexB]

The Hawaii governor is saying that a wrong button was pushed during a shift change.

But imagine the confusion if North Korea actually sent a missile right now.

This happened on a somewhat lesser scale to me a couple of years back: driving to London my Audi Satnav came up with a message saying there were major delays on my route due to an Air Raid!

Exact same reason - someone punched the wrong code into the report. I was listening to my iPod at the time, and it did make me switch to the radio just to check!

Can only imagine how scary it would be if there was a baackground that made a false alarm plausible

[Thomkal]

The Hawaii governor is saying that a wrong button was pushed during a shift change.

But imagine the confusion if North Korea actually sent a missile right now.

Certainly relieved that it was innocent (?) human error, but if three months later some reporter comes out with "what really happened with the Hawaii ballistic missile attack", I may just cry. :)

[Thomkal]

Meanwhile Donald Trump was playing golf.

[NobodyHere]

Meanwhile Donald Trump was playing golf.

That's probably for the best.

[bhlloy]

Meanwhile Donald Trump was playing golf.

Thank God for that

[JonInMiddleGA]

This isn't exactly new ground. Check the "Incidents" portion of the Wiki. On average, about once a year ever since the current system was put in place. To varying degrees (and with a couple of different causes) but this isn't groundbreaking stuff.

Emergency Alert System - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System#Results_of_November_9,_2011_test)

[Ben E Lou]

Shimon Prokupecz on Twitter: ""It was a mistake made during a standard procedure at the change over of a shift and an employee pushed the wrong button," Governor of Hawai… https://t.co/mieGT70oQa" (https://twitter.com/shimonpro/status/952264321387712513)

I’m no expert on warning system protocol, but what kinda stupid setup keeps the “shift change” button next to the “ZOMFG INCOMING MISSILE ALERT” button???

[panerd]

Shimon Prokupecz on Twitter: ""It was a mistake made during a standard procedure at the change over of a shift and an employee pushed the wrong button," Governor of Hawai… https://t.co/mieGT70oQa" (https://twitter.com/shimonpro/status/952264321387712513)

I’m no expert on warning system protocol, but what kinda stupid setup keeps the “shift change” button next to the “ZOMFG INCOMING MISSILE ALERT” button???

Turn your key.http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/9/96/WG_04.jpg/600px-WG_04.jpg

[Edward64]

Whats that movie from?

[panerd]

Whats that movie from?

The beginning of WarGames.

[Ben E Lou]

Whats that movie from?Having to ask that question is dang near cause for a banning 'round these parts.

[molson]

Windows asks me if I'm sure before it will let me delete a file from my desktop. It's almost fool-proof. I'm no Emergency Broadcast System genius, but I'd recommend something like that.

Of course, I'm not sure if the Emergency Broadcast System is actually operated by computers, it sounds like they're still using physical buttons, 1970s' sci-fi movie style.

[CrimsonFox]

Have a friend that is currently on vacation there. He was scratching his head a few minutes ago seeing both messages.

[CrimsonFox]

Having to ask that question is dang near cause for a banning 'round these parts.

He wants to play a game.

[Edward64]

Having to ask that question is dang near cause for a banning 'round these parts.

Darn, how old is that movie!

FWIW, even though I think the person(s) responsible for the mistake should be disciplined severely, it ultimately will help people take basic preparation more seriously, get families to talk about the what-ifs etc.

Definitely screwed if you are in the middle of the blast, but there is a X miles away where your odds of survival increases with some prep and knowledge.

[NobodyHere]

So the problem was caused by a guy selecting "missile alert" from a drop down menu instead of "test missile alert".

How wonder how much he gets paid.

[bhlloy]

So the problem was caused by a guy selecting "missile alert" from a drop down menu instead of "test missile alert".

How wonder how much he gets paid.

Never mind that - how much did the people who designed that system get paid for it?

[PilotMan]

Never mind that - how much did the people who designed that system get paid for it?

That was my thought. How are these next to one another in the UI?

[Marc Vaughan]

So the problem was caused by a guy selecting "missile alert" from a drop down menu instead of "test missile alert".

How wonder how much he gets paid.

Chances are the simulation for testing the missile alert drill is nearly identical to the actual real one apart from one step ... that is fairly sensible as it needs to follow it to ensure that they're doing things right ... as such it sounds like whatever 'selection' was meant to mean its a 'test' wasn't set correctly ... but I could see how it could happen.

(Personally I'd have thought they'd have run these tests wholly 'offline' - ie. take down your SMS messaging connections etc. before running them to avoid risking this sort of thing, but I understand that could be problematic - after all what happens is the real thing happened mid-test?)

[Thomkal]

The person responsible for all this has been "reassigned" to something that doesn't scare all of Hawaii.

[PilotMan]

The person responsible for all this has been "reassigned" to something that doesn't scare all of Hawaii.

trump was reassigned?

[Thomkal]

trump was reassigned?

if only :)

[NobodyHere]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/QueasyGrandIriomotecat-size_restricted.gif

[Jughead Spock]

Figured maybe a picture of a graph would be more appropriate. :D

http://cdn.iflscience.com/images/aecbddb1-3090-55cb-998d-83d986844c07/content-1516271699-missiles.jpg

[NobodyHere]

Hawaii governor didn't correct false missile alert sooner because he didn't know his Twitter password (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hawaii-governor-didnt-correct-false-missile-alert-sooner-because-he-didnt-know-his-twitter-password/ar-AAv3xtZ?li=BBnbfcL)

Your government at work everyone!

[Edward64]

The guy thought it was for real. Nevertheless taking 30+ min to correct it is unforgivable.

Also, how come this just came out?

Worker Who Sent False Hawaii Alert Thought Threat Was Real, F.C.C. Says - The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/30/technology/fcc-hawaii-missile-alert.html)

WASHINGTON — The state worker in Hawaii who sent a false wireless alert warning of an inbound ballistic missile on Jan. 13 issued the message intentionally, thinking the state faced an actual threat, the Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday.

The mistake, which touched off widespread confusion and panic in Hawaii, occurred when an emergency management services worker on the day shift misinterpreted testing instructions from a midnight shift supervisor, the commission said. Believing the instructions were for a real emergency, the day-shift worker sent the live alert to the cellphones of all Hawaii residents and visitors to the state.

Officials had previously described the episode as an accident. Shortly after it happened, Gov. David Y. Ige of Hawaii blamed the false warning on a state employee who “pressed the wrong button.” State officials are scheduled to discuss the findings of their own investigation later on Tuesday afternoon.

Although other emergency management officials in Hawaii knew that the state was supposed to be conducting an internal drill at the time, the employee who sent the alert, who has not been publicly identified, told the commission in a written statement that he or she believed it was an actual emergency.

The employee then chose from options in a drop-down menu that included test and real alerts. When prompted with the question “Are you sure you want to send this alert?,” the employee clicked “yes,” according to the commission.

[Edward64]

Here's a funny what if op-ed.

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/kirby/2018/01/30/kirby-you-get-the-missile-alert-you-have-15-minutes-to-live-what-would-you-do-well-heres-my-list/
I’d spend at least the first 5 minutes cursing my own country’s government for not having the foresight to kill Kim Jong Un (making it look like an accident, of course) at any point during the past several years.

With billions of dollars at its disposal, how is it that the freaking CIA couldn’t have found some way to smuggle poisonous toilet paper into Kim’s john or jong? Hell, that’s how the agency killed Elvis.

If it was right now, me working from home about 25 miles North from downtown Atlanta, wife and daughter at school (about 2 miles away), don't think 15 min is enough to do much other than call/text them and son (in college) and tell them I love them, goodbye and try stay indoors if they survive the blast.

If everyone was home for the holidays, I would grab a bunch of water & snacks and get them all down to the basement. The basement windows and door is facing North so away from the blast. Probably start praying alot.

[panerd]

The guy thought it was for real. Nevertheless taking 30+ min to correct it is unforgivable.

Also, how come this just came out?

Worker Who Sent False Hawaii Alert Thought Threat Was Real, F.C.C. Says - The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/30/technology/fcc-hawaii-missile-alert.html)

My guess is this story will change again a few more times in the future and at some point we will get the real story. Of course I am holding out hope for the real Flight 93 story as well.

[Edward64]

I feel sorry for the guy, sounds like there was no malicious intent just incompetence. Again, why did it take so long?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/30/us/hawaii-false-alarm-investigation/index.html
The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency employee who triggered the false ballistic missile alert earlier this month has been fired, the state adjutant general said Tuesday.

The unnamed employee said he didn't know it was an exercise, even though five other employees in the room heard "exercise, exercise, exercise, which indicates that it is a drill," an investigating officer told reporters.
Retired Brig. Gen. Bruce Oliveira said, "When it became apparent that the real-world alert was issued," the employee who pushed the button "seemed confused, he froze and another employee had to take over his responsibilities."

[bhlloy]

"The employee "had a history of confusing drill and real-world events," Oliveira said."

Seems like it's more than the employee that should be fired here

[AlexB]

Hawaii false alarm worker: I was 100% sure it was real - BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42929174)

While not absolving the employee, even if preceded by ‘Exercise! Exercise! Exercise!’ why in the hell have the words ‘This is not a drill’ in a test?

Just asking for confusion