Emergency Broadcast System False Alarm of 1971

Origin
Acting as the main American emergency alert system from 1963 to 1997, the blare annoyed millions for decades. All messages, from local to presidential breakthroughs, were broadcasted to participating stations only. During a slight kerfuffle in February 1971, an employee played an authentic warning signal instead of the weekly test tape, which informed all stations to air the alert.

Forty minutes and six attempts were needed to deactivate the alarm. More disconcerting was not the operators bungled protocol, but the alarm never reached broadcasters. The majority either ignored the alert or were unprepared to handle the message, forcing major reforms in operating procedure.

Effects
Elusive in nature, its latent signal hides dispersed across communication devices. When prompted by an override password from any connected security or alert system, it displays an emergency message across all networked devices. The alert is always tailored to a local issue that threatens the neighboring infrastructure.

Collection
It was recently captured after some technological trapping - not before unleashing chaos across Hawaii. The approach of a North Korean ballistic missile in January 2018 was thankfully a false alarm.