Zombie Alert: Public Safety Alert Broadcast Across Montana and Michigan by Hackers Traced Overseas [VIDEO]

PCMag.com reports that Great Falls, Mont. TV station, KRTV, broadcast a mysterious emergency alert during an airing of the "Steve Wilkos" talk show, warning of a zombie uprising. ABC News astutely noted, however, that the so called "Zombie Alert" was a false alarm. KRTV's official website issued a response to the "bogus" alert, stating the following:

"Someone apparently hacked into the Emergency Alert System and announced on KRTV and the CW that there was an emergency in several Montana counties. This message did not originate from KRTV, and there is no emergency. Our engineers are investigating to determine what happened and if it affected other media outlets."

The emergency broadcast, which can be viewed above, contained the following announcement:

"Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. Follow the messages on screen that will be updated as information becomes available. Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies, as they are considered extremely dangerous."

In what has since been understood as an obvious prank, the seemingly realistic announcement had the potential to cause alarm, being labeled the "'War of The Worlds' of our generation" by ABC News. The LA Times reached out to Great Falls Police Department Public-Information Officer Sgt. Bryan Slavik for comment on the public's reaction:

"[Slavik] said the incident gave most a chuckle. There were some calls to the department, he said, but they were along the lines of, 'If a zombie walks on my front lawn, can I shoot him?'

There has been no criminal complaint filed by KRTV, he said, and the only worry among authorities in Great Falls is that whoever did the hacking might do it again and this time in a more serious vein, 'something people would take seriously.' They would not like to see that happen."

But why was the hoax alert broadcast at all? Atlantic Wire's Adam Clark Estes notes that this type of playful hacking, while clearly intended as a joke, is only "funny until it's not," citing recent cases of serious cyber security threats. The Huffington Post reports that TV Stations around Marquette, Mich. were also hacked, receiving an identical emergency broadcast.