So, apparently, while innocent television viewers were watching a gripping episode of The Steve Wilkos Show, hackers made their way into the Emergency Alert System of KRTV in Great Falls, Montana and took to the airwaves to proclaim that a zombie apocalypse had begun!
“Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. Follow the messages on screen that will be updated as information becomes available. Do not approach or attempt to apprehend these bodies as they are considered extremely dangerous.”
And as you would expect, all hell broke loose! A grand total of four people called the cops to see if this was really happening. FOUR! ‘War of the Worlds’ this was not. At the same time, the fact that anyone would call in thinking this was true is somewhat concerning.
But, there was a silver lining! When KRTV issued a statement online saying that the message sent over the system came from outside and they had been hacked, it got the largest number of hits of ANY story their site had ever had at 80,000! Usually, they only get about 6,000 hits on average. So, it’s been a win-win situation for everyone involved: The police got more business, the station actually got people onto their website, and the hackers had their moment in the sun.
I would say that the winter was getting to the folks in Montana, but apparently the message also made it on air in Marquette, Michigan and Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is claimed that the hack came from somewhere “overseas”. Overseas? Why would someone from overseas hack into Emergency Alert Systems in some of Americas SMALLEST broadcast markets? These hackers were aiming as low as possible I would say. This doesn’t exactly have North Korea or Iran’s fingerprints on it.
The investigation continues. In the meantime, we can all sleep safe knowing that zombies are most definitely not on the loose and eating brains in Great Falls, Montana.