Hacking programmable road signs

This road sign has been hacked to read 'Zombies Ahead.' According to i-hacked.com, it is fairly easy to break into the programmable digital signs' electronics and re-program the text on them.

(Credit: i-hacked.com)

We see them everywhere these days, digital signs by the side of the road telling us about road conditions or that we should prepare to stop or that our local bridge might be closed next Tuesday from noon to midnight. And if you're like me, you've always just assumed that the message on the signs is legitimate and properly authorized.

But what if the sign, instead of reading something like "Ice Ahead" was flashing the message, "Zombies Ahead"?

It's true that in San Francisco or a few other cities, such a sign could be put up by local transportation officials to warn people of an impending zombie march, but even in those places, the more likely explanation would be that the sign was hacked.

And if you're in the Boston area and saw signs hacked in this way, there's always a decent chance it was done by students from MIT.

According to the blog i-hacked.com, some programmable road signs are easily messed with, largely because they often have unlocked instrument panels, a text-entry system that is easily accessed, and are often protected with uncomplicated, or unchanged default passwords.

This is the internal display system of an Addco sign, according to i-hacked.com.

(Credit: i-hacked.com)

"Programming is as simple as scrolling down the menu selection to 'Instant Text,'" i-hacked reported. "Type whatever you want to display, (and) hit 'enter' to submit. You can now either throw it up on the sign by selecting 'Run w/out save' or you can add more pages to it by selecting 'Add page.'"

Of course, you probably don't want to do this in plain view of any law enforcement officials, and i-hacked led its post with a disclaimer warning against ever performing this hack. So here at Geek Gestalt, we'll just say that it's interesting that this could be such an easy thing to do and leave it at that.

[terminalblue]

now this is journalism...i wanna go find one right now and screw with it

[jpkneeland]

I fail to see any good coming of this, there are too many instances where peoples lives will be put at risk ie: highway workers, law enforcement, truckers etc. If in fact an accident is caused by this mindless fascination with "screwing" with basic needed services, I would be looking for the FBI to become involved in the hunt for the "screwer". What the Hell is wrong with people? Put your mind to better uses..volunteer somewhere! geez

[Michichael]

I was beginning to get suspicious about the zombie alert when, after loading my shotgun and gassing up my chain saw, I had not seen a single one for 40 miles.

[Dalkorian]

Were there any graveyards nearby? I mean think about it for a moment, I'm suspicious about the existence of Eskimos because I have never seen one in southern CA.

It wasn't a zombie WARNING, it was just an alert.

[UITD]

I see them all over the place around me. They're driving, ignoring rules of the road, yapping on their cellphones as if the world revolved around them, cutting you off in the malls and on the roads -- and generally doing nothing at their jobs. Zombies are all around us. Just open your eyes, unless of course..... you're one too.

[pentest]

It is not interesting that it is easy. It is commonplace, it is frightening.

It really is scary, how easy it is to hack into infrastructure systems. From road signs, to Boston's mass transit system.

Too many incompetent people are holding critical jobs.

[Seaspray0]

Good job on the story, Daniel. The picture really adds to the enjoyment.

[codynews]

This isn't 'hacking' at all. Geeze.

This is about as much of a 'hack' as someone that spray paints a "1" in front of a "55 MPH" sign to make it say "155 MPH".

Nothing to see here... Just a bunch of losers goofing around. An easy solution: Lock the dang control box where this stuff is imputed. Or like they mention, add a real (non default) password to the control system.

[timber2005]

I figured they had done it wirelessly :-/
Still, its amusing.

[shinji257]

You could always have it say "No Speed Limit". Most people probably would actually think it was real. A sign spray painted with an additional '1' is pretty obvious that it was fake.

[SteamChip]

//An easy solution: Lock the dang control box where this stuff is imputed. Or like they mention, add a real (non default) password to the control system. //

Time to change the message:
@!#!! Who has the KEY?!?
What is that PASSWORD?!?

[n3td3v]

This could be dangerous as part of a coordinated attack on national infrastructure.

[SeizeCTRL]

Yes indeed... those zombies are getting craftier each day! A full fledged coordinated zombie attack against our infrastructure is sure to doom us all.

good thing I have already prepared my zombie attack plan! rule 1, stay off the highways as they will be flooded with traffic with people trying to flee the town... road signs won't matter at that point.

[rcardona2k]

Text Terrorism! where are Bush and Cheney to save us???

[honorable1]

More stupid MFer's who have NO clue about technology. Keep the access unavailiable from the Internet FOOLS. Oh you mean, unplud it from the WEB ? YES. Stupid government by stupid people and more stupid government FOR stupid people. When are these people going to learn? NEVER !!!





How about a VPN for secure access to a limite number of secured IP addresses? Oh I know, it will cost $100 million just to investigate it. 'Nough said.

[Editor's note: Profanity deleted]

[Dalkorian]

Not sure where you got the idea this was a remote exploit - maybe you didn't read the article at all? Maybe you have issues with reading comprehension? The only "tools" needed would be a lock pick to get access to the included keypad. Oh, and a few fingers for typing.

Easy as it is, I'm guessing they didn't figure on people pulling over and tampering with these things, but the "solution" is pretty simple - USE A GOOD LOCK!

Changing the default password seems pretty logical, but seeing how easy it is to reset the password to the default one shows that is a false move. Just lock the stupid thing! Or let the kids play with it - what harm is being done anyway? How many heart attacks were caused by the zombie warning?

[globalist_agenda]

Obama's Infrastructure Jobs Corp will swiftly fix this problem. Unemployed, unwed mothers in Detroit's inner city can easily be retrained to harden signage security. Or, we could just outsource it to Diebold.

[SeizeCTRL]

LMAO - sarcasm at it's finest!

[jlachovsky]

Compared to Detroit's "outer city"...

[bubba501]

These so called hackers should worry more about trying to kiss a girl than putting up zombie warnings on a message board.... Gees, stop watching Star Trek re-runs and move out of your parent's basement....

[harpergroup]

How exactly is following the normal operation of a piece of equipment now called a HACK ? This is instructions / mere procedure NOT a HACK. If you cannot accurately use the word please to not **** on the meaning of that word.

[weedbag]

The entire article, pictures and all was stolen from g00n ReysRaged, formerly of g00ns.net
here is the proof:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PzLQuVeGUA

and more pictures where you can tell its the same sigh, and that g00n ReysRaged did it:
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7060/1212654828670sy0.jpg
http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/1249/1212823432209sm6.jpg
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/6060/1212652609302uv0.jpg

Thanks cnet for supporting a website full of no talent people who steal **** and dont give credit where it is deserved.

g00ns 4 lyfe.

[inachu]

This is really old news. Ten years old. Its been covered on 2600

[linquo]

It's almost twenty years old. It was a classic freshman prank at Chalmers University in Sweden in the late 80s/early 90s on signs that showed different messages based on vehicle speed. Anyone staying under the speed limit got "Can't you reach the gas pedal?" while speeders got "Woody drives faster" (Woody Woodpecker being the mascot of the CS/CE program). Not that I endorse this kind of thing, but I admit that it was funny...

[manualfunky]

"POLICE TARGETING METROSEXUALS"
"POLICE TARGETING MULLETS"

this happened in Sydney Australia more than 3 years ago...

[bbqdhampster]

What kind of backward place has the access box accessible to the public ? This kind of machinery is programmable via radio / cable / fiber optics / telephone. Evidently the people who sell and install this equipment are just plain simple.
Hey, this is a market opportunity! A bunch of government dolts are installing a huge amount of equipment which is designed my monkeys. Automatic sprinkling systems are programmed better than this.
Besides this is not a hack. This is simple minded vandalism. What is going on here ? This is the second article I've read today where it appears that the writers are technologically challenged.
Headlines which are not supported by the article are called lies.

[gary85739]

yeah, that's it, let's just break the law and confuse the masses if possible..eh?

NOT!

[LostZombies]

My name is Ryan and I run zombie themed social network attempting to create the first ever community generated zombie documentary

www.lostzombies.com

[SuttoXXX]

This was done in Austin.... I saw it on my way home from downtown... I thought it was freakin' hilarious!!! Although it did freak me out a little after playing the Nazi Zombie mode a few days before in the latest Call of Duty.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,484326,00.html

[neocon4jesus]

I think it's a sad day in America when people have nothing better to do than pick on Zombies. What's next, making fun of Republicans. It's a slippery slope my friends, a slippery slope.

Dan
USSA

[hioriw]

How exactly is following the normal operation of a piece of equipment now called a HACK ? See the reviews at: http://www.emaxinfo.com