the boiled one

What little we see of his actions shows that PHEN-228 is a malicious yet calmly spoken and highly intelligent entity that actively targets those who come across his path, seemingly embodying trauma and malevolence itself. More specifically, he seems to target the family of Job Zamperini, who was a POW in World War 2. He tortures him psychologically by delivering to him unholy information and stalking him and his family. It can be assumed from his speech in one of the hijacked broadcasts that he likely knows what he is doing to his victims and is intentionally causing people to suffer from paralysis and dread.