Environmental protest in Brooklyn: Hackers manipulate traffic signs

In New York's Brooklyn district, hackers have manipulated electronic scoreboards to display anti-car messages instead of the usual traffic warnings. The unknown hacker had an easy game.

"Cars ruin cities", "Cars destroy the cities", "Cars melt glaciers", "Cars let glaciers melt", or "Use bus, subway or bike", say "Use the bus, the subway or." the bike "were the messages to passing motorists. Usually, the signs indicate road closures or detours and guide the drivers.

Vanderbilt in Brooklyn @DanLevitan and yes, honking will not help! pic.twitter.com/AUFDTDJUPW

The hacker attacks occurred only a few days after a district neighborhood meeting on new bike paths got out of hand and riots broke out. At the event, a number of residents had worked to make the roads more attractive for bicycles and less car-centered. Whether there is a connection between the two events is not yet clear.

As the US portal "Jalopnik" reported, the signs can be manipulated easily, since the majority with the same default password of the operator is secured. The local road construction company does not change this after a hacker attack. If it does, then according to Jalopnik, the default password can be easily restored with a simple keyboard shortcut. The password and instructions for programming the display text can be found in many Internet forums.