I wonder if we can glean any information from the timing of this. Blind speculation follows...
Was this a new system that has recently been set up, maybe even this week? If so, does that mean the US military is taking North Korea seriously and it's not just sabre-rattling? Do we have intel that North Korea is actually going to launch something towards us? Or is the US planning a first strike of their own in the very near future and are preparing for the inevitable counterattack?
Maybe an error: https://twitter.com/NutzFordBucks/status/952243050675281922
What an awful and terrible mistake.
The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency just tweeted that there is no missile threat to Hawaii. Apparently it was just a drill. Anyone know if there was a second alert sent out notifying people that this was just a drill?
Actual wording received on a mobile phone:
> BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL
Correction message:
>There is no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii. Repeat. False Alarm.
I wonder how many people shot themselves after reading that...
Every software developer who's sent test notifications out to real users by mistake in the past (that is: all of us) is cringing in sympathy for the state of Hawaii's IT department right now.