[EAS] Inside Radio Wednesday, November 16, 2011

[Bill Ruck]

The new Occupy target could be radio and TV  using EAS. Street 
protests get attention, but imagine if some of the people behind the 
Occupy movement were able to take over radio and TV stations. That's 
one idea being considered, and it would reportedly use the Emergency 
Alert System to get the job done. "The potential is that you could 
hijack all radio and TV stations across the country," a computer 
hacker named Jake tells San Francisco's KGO-TV. The message could be 
anything, from something playful to a false report of a dirty bomb. 
Using publicly available information, the hacker says he's concluded 
EAS would be an easy target. "There's no authentication, there's no 
encryption, there's no passwords, there's nothing that is required to 
send what would appear to be a valid message," Jake says. It appears 
any potential Occupy hacking scheme would target Primary Entry Point 
stations to get the message spread further down the daisy chain. 
Veteran Bay Area broadcast engineer Bill Ruck says the hack job could 
be successful, telling KGO-TV that many stations are vulnerable 
because they're automated and wouldn't have someone immediately 
available to get a phony message off the air. He's hoping the threat 
will serve as a wake-up call to broadcasters and government agencies. 
FEMA tells the station that it takes all potential threats seriously 
but EAS already has "adequate safety and security measures in place." 
If not, there may be time to prepare. Jake says he's shared his idea 
with the online activist group Anonymous, and so far they seem cool 
to the idea, seeing the media as more friend than foe.

Bill Ruck
Curmudgeon
San Francisco