[EAS] ALERT: EAS Device passwords

[Barry Mishkind]

At 08:54 AM 2/12/2013, Eric Adler wrote:
>Also, I keep seeing everyone comment along the lines that this incident was caused by a malicious attack directly on the EAS encoder but I have yet to see anything to back that up. 

        The initial investigation thus far apparently shows that the perpetrator
        penetrated the station's LAN and then entered the EAS machine via
        the default password.

        There is also, now, a report that at least one station broadcast the
        alert as a "funny story" ... except they included the data bursts and
        another innocent station ended up playing this fake alert in a
        third station.

        That is -by the way- completely against the FCC Rules... and a
        fine could develop there.  No station should *ever* use data
        bursts in a "news" or "funny" story.

        This is definitely causing a scramble in many parts of the
        country today.   While we wait for more facts ... not 
        speculation ... this is a good time to ensure your EAS
        box is not operating on a default password.