Hackers program highway sign with Zombie warning
![krigsman-michael-author.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/3e12b94f2810fdd855a6d2de90007db14b694a6b/2019/08/21/20fa0fef-eaac-4c13-8660-6c9ddfbcf9f3/krigsman-michael-author.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
Here's a lighthearted failure suitable for Friday afternoon.
In a true "sign of the times", so to speak, someone reprogrammed an electric highway sign to warn motorists of impending zombies:
CAUTION ZOMBIES AHEAD!!!
THE END IS NEAR!!!!!!!!!
RUN FOR COLD CLIMATES
Here are the photos:
![zombies-caution-2.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/2014/10/03/c581c47d-4b56-11e4-b6a0-d4ae52e95e57/zombies-caution-2.jpg)
Update 1/30/09: The screens are manufactured by Imago. Looks like the signs run proprietary software and operating system.
These machines are programmed by a keypad located inside a compartment that can be locked. If the compartment isn't locked, thereby giving physical access to the keyboard, anyone can get inside. Although the manufacturer assigns a default password to every unit, many owners don't bother changing it. Therefore, reprogramming can be a simple matter of opening the unlocked unit, entering the default password, and typing a new display message.
In a sense, this can hardly be called a hack. It's really physical intrusion and takeover without any special feat of programming skill.
[Via fellow ZDNet blogger Adam O'Donnell. Photos from Dallas News video.]