[EAS] Sinclair TV stations disrupted across the US after ransomware attack

[Sean Donelan]

Since there is no published integrated Concept of Operations for the 
Emergency Alert System, Wireless Emergency Alert system, or IPAWS I won't 
bother to ask when was the last time the threat and vulnerability matrix 
for EAS updated?

When Russia was "invited" into the Republic of Georgia (2008) and Ukraine 
(2014), simultaneous cyberattacks were used against parts of those 
countries infrastructure.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/sinclair-tv-stations-crippled-by-weekend-ransomware-attack/

Since reports of Sinclair TV stations going down began coming in, as first 
reported by The Record, some of them have managed to start broadcasting 
again. However, it's evident that the incident severely impacted them.

For instance, a source told BleepingComputer that, even though KABB is 
back up, they have issues with weather graphics.

WCHS is also up, with news stories from Fox NewsEdge being streamed 
straight out of a browser window in fullscreen, with WPGH and KOKH also 
having problems displaying their standard graphics

Others, like WBSF and WCWN, are now broadcasting different programming, 
switching from CW programming to "Charge!" subchannels.

A handful seems to have been more severely affected, such as WPFO, which 
did a half-hour newscast instead of the usual full hour, and WTAT and 
WRGB, who had to cancel their newscasts altogether.