United Kingdom, June 22 -- Hackers sent out an "extreme" alert to millions of people in Brazil using the government's own system.

Over the weekend, millions of Brazilians were woken up in the early hours of Saturday (20.06.26), shortly after midnight, with a cryptic message from the alert system.

With an alert level of "extreme", the message simply read: "Misantropi4."

It came with a loud alarm sound which is typically only heard for severe thunderstorms.

In Portuguese, misanthropia - like the English word misanthropy" - means a hatred or distrust of humanity.

The message, which is believed to come from hackers, was sent to people in places like San Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and the state of Parana.

The emergency message system was the...