Pranksters Are Hacking New Hampshire’s Road Signs
The electronic sign which made you look twice? Yeah, it probably said that.
Electronic road signs are great for alerting commuters of upcoming traffic snarls and the time it takes to reach a landmark, such as a state line. They're also known to offer words of wisdom, like with Maine's Interstate 295 "Santa sees you when your speeding." However, according to the Concord Monitor, The Vermont Department of Transportation or its contractors had installed a trailer-mounted electronic sign on the New Hampshire side of the Route 18 bridge over the Connecticut River. It cautioned drivers about delays due to the replacement of a culvert in Vermont. Earlier this week, the system was hacked. What ended up in it's place won't be repeated on this blog, but it wasn't very family friendly.
This isn't the first time, won't be the last, and there's an easy explanation for the change in text. The Concord Monitor reported a South Dakota company sent out all its trailer-mounted signs with the same default password and a system that was easy to switch from a secure Virtual Private Network to the open internet, making it easy to break into them remotely.
Until that changes, be extra aware on family rides on the interstate.