Think about this. You're driving down the road, when you see a digital road sign. What now? Traffic, construction? Just what I need, another delay. I'm gonna be late.
Wait. What? "Caution. Zombies Ahead?"
Yes, that's right. A few hackers in Austin, Texas reprogrammed these digital signs to warn motorist of imminent doom at the hands of the undead. But apparently, hacking digital road signs is the new practical joke sweeping the nation.
The Zombie warning in Austin is just one of the many practical jokes sweeping the nation. Reports of changed traffic signs have surfaced from San Francisco and Boston. While MIT students could have easily figured out how to hack the Boston area signs, what accounts for actions of the other pranks?
According to i-hacked.com many digital signs are easily reprogrammable. Simply open up the back, enter the password (most of them are default or simplistic) and change the display message to whatever you want.
Easy enough. Of course the hard part is changing the password without being spotted by highway patrol.
