FCC sounds alarm after emergency tones turned into potty-mouthed radio takeover

Malicious intruders have hijacked US radio gear to turn emergency broadcast tones into a profanity-laced alarm system.

That’s according to the latest warning issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has flagged a “recent string of cyber intrusions” that diverted studio-to-transmitter links (STLs) so attackers could replace legitimate programming with their own audio – complete with the signature “Attention Signal” tone of the domestic Emergency Alert System (EAS).

According to the alert, the intrusions exploited unsecured broadcasting equipment, notably devices manufactured by Swiss firm Barix, which were reconfigured to stream attacker-controlled audio instead of station output. That stream included either real or simulated EAS alert tones, followed by obscene language or other offensive content.

Stations in Texas and Virginia have already reported incidents, including one during a live sports broadcast and another on a public radio affiliate’s backup stream.

The HTX Media radio station in Houston confirmed it had fallen victim to hijackers in a post on Facebook, saying: “We’ve received multiple reports that 97.5 FM (ESPN Houston) has been hijacked and is currently broadcasting explicit and highly offensive content… The station appears to be looping a repeated audio stream that includes an Emergency Alert System (EAS) tone before playing an extremely vulgar track.”

The FCC’s notice doesn’t just sound the alarm about the problem – it offers a checklist of “best practices” broadcasters should follow to avoid falling victim to similar hijacks. These include promptly patching and updating firmware, replacing default passwords with strong alternatives (and rotating them periodically), putting EAS and other critical audio gear behind firewalls or VPN-protected networks, restricting remote management to authorized devices, and systematically auditing logs for suspicious access attempts.

Broadcasters are also urged to alert the FCC and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) if they suspect unauthorized access.

The FCC’s warning comes after the EAS was compromised in 2013 across multiple television stations, with hoax “zombie apocalypse” alerts briefly terrorizing viewers before authorities confirmed they were pranks.

For radio stations, the fix isn’t fancy – just overdue. ®

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