Rogue message in Chinese broadcast over intercom at a National Weather Service center
Update: NOAA says message in Chinese which penetrated PA system at Weather Service federal center was due to "a series of robocalls" from a scammer. Many Americans have received these calls according to FTC (see: https://bit.ly/2J4EwAI ). Updated story: https://wapo.st/2My4xGZ
Chinese message intruded building-wide intercom system used for emergencies at Weather Service federal center Wednesday. The intercom message, translated from Chinese, said “you have a package from Amazon at the Chinese Embassy, press 1 for more details":
Capital Weather Gang
Rogue message in Chinese broadcast over intercom at a National Weather Service center
By Jason Samenow August 9 at 11:41 AM Email the author
(This article, originally published Wednesday afternoon, was updated Thursday based on a new statement from the National Weather Service.)
It came without warning. As workers were busy preparing forecasts and alerts at a National Weather Service center in Maryland on Wednesday morning, they were suddenly interrupted by a message in Chinese piped over the building’s intercom. ... The voice was a woman’s, which also reached building employees via phone at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in College Park, Md.
On Wednesday afternoon, Weather Service officials scrambled to understand the source of the audio intrusion. ... “We are aware of the Chinese message that is propagating through the phone system and was [broadcast] over the building PA,” read an email from Doug Fenderson, the branch chief for infrastructure and Web services at the center, sent at 12:50 p.m. “We are engaging the Vendor AT&T to alert them of the incident and get root cause. The phone [system] is not tied to any of the Government IT controlled systems in the building. Please do not be alarmed.”
....
NOAA pointed to
an April blog post from the Federal Trade Commission that notified the public about the scam. “Have you gotten a call from someone saying they’re from a Chinese Consulate office?,” the blog post begins. “If so, you’re not alone – based on reports to the FTC and the real Chinese Consulates. But here’s the thing: it’s not a Chinese Consulate office calling. It’s a scammer.”
The NOAA statement said its information technology team worked with its phone vendor “to prevent all outside telephone numbers from accessing the building’s PA system, to prevent this from occurring again.”
Jason Samenow is The Washington Post’s weather editor and Capital Weather Gang's chief meteorologist. He earned a master's degree in atmospheric science and spent 10 years as a climate change science analyst for the U.S. government. He holds the Digital Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association. Follow
https://twitter.com/capitalweather
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