4 ms·

> Forgotten Twitter log-in details have been blamed for delaying a public correction to Hawaii's missile alert earlier this month. Kind of floored that twitter

> Forgotten Twitter log-in details have been blamed for delaying a public correction to Hawaii's missile alert earlier this month. Kind of floored that twitter is what the government has to use to put a notification out to it's public to provide critical information. But then I continued to read and the article goes on to say that twitter and other social media was used by the Governor after the emergency text message was sent out, which means it obviously isn't a primary source of information. So actually it's just clickbait journalism. Anyone panicking in the area would have almost certainly picked up a text before getting anything over twitter. What is pretty terrible is that the governor of Hawaii most likely doesn't have 2FA on his twitter account and keeps the password on his phone, probably in a notes app of some kind, and is willing to publicly admit that.

ian0 9y ago
Actually I learned today that its maybe not a bad idea to broadcast public announcements through alternate channels like twitter. There was a quake here in Jakarta and the resulting hug of death took the governments site offline briefly - but their twitter account was fine. It worked as a great CDN! Semi-related - when everyone evacuated their office blocks and stood on the road it flooded the cell towers making internet browsing impossible. But whatsapp continued to connect intermittently making it relatively fine to use. Not saying these types of channels should be used in place of the actual emergency protocols in the phone network. But no harm broadcasting if you can keep them secure.
TeMPOraL 9y ago
In emergency situations, if social media platforms work better than "official channels" (and they do), I'd prefer the government to use them.
- craftyguy 9y ago
  I don't. Having to agree to yet more 'privacy' policies and succumb to tracking and other rights violations by the big social media platforms just to be able to recieve important messages from our government is, well, extremely stupid. The government must have a reliable way to do this. They don't, so they are trying to take the 'easy way', and that's a failure on their part.
- albertgoeswoof 9y ago
  Imagine if Russia relied on twitter to distribute missile strike notifications and the US decided to make a pre-emptive strike. Do you really think twitter would not have a mysterious outage during the strike? Or that there would be reliable information on there? You can't rely on private companies, especially with foreign investors to provide critical infrastructure.
mattferderer 9y ago
North Dakota, USA recently sent out a "blue alert". Besides being confusing to the majority of the population, the alert requested users to go to the state website for information. The very small population of North Dakota crashed their web server. Twitter was the best place to find information. I'm really doubting any government infrastructure these days.
- olefoo 9y ago
  You can blame private enterprise and the outsourcing mania for the sad state of .gov internet presence. When vendors can sell crap like weblogic to an org that really only needs an easy to update static site; and the taxpayer ends up on the hook for it. There are efforts in progress to fix things https://www.usds.gov/ https://www.usds.gov/ but they are slow and prone to being sabotaged by the aforementioned vendors.
  - 0xWilliam 9y ago
    >Govt buys shitty software REEE MUST BE THE PRIVATE ENTERPRISES FAULT! WE NEED MORE GOVT!
  - mattferderer 9y ago
    I really like the concept of USDS. It's a shame you have to live in DC to help. I think the pay cut I could maybe handle but not DC.
WillReplyfFood 9y ago
Raise your noses high, wrinkling in disgust on the users, who are unable to follow the unrealistic standards of safety measures and rules. All i demanded from them was to hop throgh a firey hoop- and they couldnt even do that! Its a great way to stay out of responsibility as a security consultant or admin. Always trust for the users to poke the biggest hole, so you have something to point to when the water floats the ship.
vilhelm_s 9y ago
They first accidentally sent out an emergency text message saying there was an incoming missile. Then they wanted to retract it, but the emergency message system did not have a way to send a "sorry, false alarm" message, so they relied on twitter and other media to do so (and this was delayed).
- azinman2 9y ago
  Seems problematic that they couldn’t do a custom string. Not every emergency will be something previously thought of before.

ian0 9y ago

Actually I learned today that its maybe not a bad idea to broadcast public announcements through alternate channels like twitter. There was a quake here in Jakarta and the resulting hug of death took the governments site offline briefly - but their twitter account was fine. It worked as a great CDN! Semi-related - when everyone evacuated their office blocks and stood on the road it flooded the cell towers making internet browsing impossible. But whatsapp continued to connect intermittently making it relatively fine to use. Not saying these types of channels should be used in place of the actual emergency protocols in the phone network. But no harm broadcasting if you can keep them secure.

TeMPOraL 9y ago

In emergency situations, if social media platforms work better than "official channels" (and they do), I'd prefer the government to use them.

craftyguy 9y ago
I don't. Having to agree to yet more 'privacy' policies and succumb to tracking and other rights violations by the big social media platforms just to be able to recieve important messages from our government is, well, extremely stupid. The government must have a reliable way to do this. They don't, so they are trying to take the 'easy way', and that's a failure on their part.
albertgoeswoof 9y ago
Imagine if Russia relied on twitter to distribute missile strike notifications and the US decided to make a pre-emptive strike. Do you really think twitter would not have a mysterious outage during the strike? Or that there would be reliable information on there? You can't rely on private companies, especially with foreign investors to provide critical infrastructure.

mattferderer 9y ago

North Dakota, USA recently sent out a "blue alert". Besides being confusing to the majority of the population, the alert requested users to go to the state website for information. The very small population of North Dakota crashed their web server. Twitter was the best place to find information. I'm really doubting any government infrastructure these days.

olefoo 9y ago
You can blame private enterprise and the outsourcing mania for the sad state of .gov internet presence. When vendors can sell crap like weblogic to an org that really only needs an easy to update static site; and the taxpayer ends up on the hook for it. There are efforts in progress to fix things https://www.usds.gov/ https://www.usds.gov/ but they are slow and prone to being sabotaged by the aforementioned vendors.
- 0xWilliam 9y ago
  >Govt buys shitty software REEE MUST BE THE PRIVATE ENTERPRISES FAULT! WE NEED MORE GOVT!
- mattferderer 9y ago
  I really like the concept of USDS. It's a shame you have to live in DC to help. I think the pay cut I could maybe handle but not DC.

WillReplyfFood 9y ago

Raise your noses high, wrinkling in disgust on the users, who are unable to follow the unrealistic standards of safety measures and rules. All i demanded from them was to hop throgh a firey hoop- and they couldnt even do that! Its a great way to stay out of responsibility as a security consultant or admin. Always trust for the users to poke the biggest hole, so you have something to point to when the water floats the ship.

vilhelm_s 9y ago

They first accidentally sent out an emergency text message saying there was an incoming missile. Then they wanted to retract it, but the emergency message system did not have a way to send a "sorry, false alarm" message, so they relied on twitter and other media to do so (and this was delayed).

azinman2 9y ago
Seems problematic that they couldn’t do a custom string. Not every emergency will be something previously thought of before.