On the night between Friday and early Saturday June 20, 2026, Brazil's government emergency alert system was hacked and sent false 'Extreme Alert' messages containing the word 'misanthropy' to cell phones across several states, including Paraná, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

The messages used a leetspeak variant, spelling the word as 'misantropi4', where the final 'a' was replaced with a '4', signaling the hack's external origin [2]. At least 10 separate false alerts were tracked across the country during the incident [1]. Officials reported that millions of Brazilians received the false alarms, which triggered loud emergency sounds even on silent phones, causing confusion and panic night-wide [3, 5, 6].

Brazil’s National Civil Defense confirmed the attack and said the false messages were remotely triggered by an actor outside the official National Civil Protection and Defense System [1, 2, 3, 5, 6]. "The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack," the agency said [2].

Wolnei Wolff, National Secretary of Protection and Civil Defense, said, "It’s difficult to say whether one or more people participated in this criminal act. This is very bad for the system, considering that we are dealing with people’s safety when we issue the alert" [1]. He added, "These false messages were remotely triggered by someone outside the system, affecting millions of people. We have temporarily shut the system down and are cooperating with Federal Police to investigate" [6].

The alerts were disseminated using the Cellbroadcast platform, managed by the Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel, which was immediately taken offline after the hack was identified [1, 2, 5, 6]. At 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Brazil's Civil Defense officially suspended the Cellbroadcast emergency alert system to prevent further false messages [1, 2].

Federal Police began an investigation into the cyber intrusion on the alert system later Saturday [3, 5, 6]. Authorities have promised to restore the alert system after enhancing its cybersecurity.

The hack disrupted emergency communications during the early hours of June 20, causing alarm for millions of residents across key Brazilian states.