BUWAHAHA the news storys just get better!

[Forrestandjen07]

ZOMBIES AHEAD!

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

Transportation officials in Texas are scrambling to prevent hackers from changing messages on digital road signs after one sign in Austin was altered to read, "Zombies Ahead."

Chris Lippincott, director of media relations for the Texas Department of Transportation, confirmed that a portable traffic sign at Lamar Boulevard and West 15th Street, near the University of Texas at Austin, was hacked into during the early hours of Jan. 19.

"It was clever, kind of cute, but not what it was intended for," said Lippincott, who saw the sign during his morning commute. "Those signs are deployed for a reason — to improve traffic conditions, let folks know there's a road closure."

"It's sort of amusing, but not at all helpful," he told FOXNews.com.

Tampering with portable road signs is illegal and potentially dangerous to drivers. It is a misdemeanor in Texas, with penalties ranging from fines to potential jail time.

Lippincott said the hacked sign — manufactured by IMAGO — is owned and operated by the city of Austin. Texas Department of Transportation signs have not been affected, he said.

"It is always possible that it could occur, but we attempt to prevent hacking incidents," Lippincott wrote in an e-mail. He declined to comment on security measures to protect the state's signs from hackers.

Austin Public Works spokeswoman Sara Hartley said the incident was not initially reported to police, but will be shortly. The sign was reverted back to its original message within hours, according to Hartley, who insisted the signs are tamper-resistant and equipped with external locks.

"This sign was broken into, it was not just a 'walk up and change the sign' kind of thing," Hartley told FOXNews.com. "This is a new one for us, we've never had it happen before."


According to the blog i-hacked.com, some commercial road signs, including those manufactured by IMAGO's ADDCO division, can be easily altered because their instrument panels are frequently left unlocked and their default passwords are not changed.

"Programming is as simple as scrolling down the menu selection," i-hacked.com reports. "Type whatever you want to display … In all likelihood, the crew will not have changed [the password]."

I-hacked.com warns readers not to try to alter the signs, which cost roughly $15,000.

ADDCO Chief Operating Officer Brian Nicholson told FOXNews.com that the company is sending out notices to customers on the potentially dangerous security flaw.

"It's incumbent upon users to change the default password and secure the sign with a padlock," Nicholson said. "We're having our engineers review this information."

In the meantime, if you're driving in Austin, you can rest assured: There are no zombies ahead

[swingle007]

that'd be an interesting sign to pass!

[joegs300]

thats the funniest thing ive read in a while... i actually LOLed.

[STARSCREAM]

That is freakin awesome!

[DAROCKNESSMONSTER]

that's pretty classy.

[Infrared Sight]

I for one welcome our new zombie overlords.

[GreenFlash06]

XD....How cool...I Wanna do that

[Blu-Ron]

My son would have an ear to ear grin if he saw that sign.

[Crim122]

lol when my gf sent it to my email this morning I was laughing so hard

[dk3dknight]

Um kay we had it on the news but the signs read this.

1st Slide:"Beware Zombies Ahead"
2nd Slide:"Head for Colder Climate"

That was shown on this mornings news.. it confuzed alot of motorist and you can see the whole Head for colder climate could cause a panic.

[SlmShdy1]

That's hilarious. I can just imagine someone driving down the road and seeing that sign. They were probably thinking, "What the f***?" That's frickin' awesome.

[dk3dknight]

Originally Posted by SlmShdy1

That's hilarious. I can just imagine someone driving down the road and seeing that sign. They were probably thinking, "What the f***?" That's frickin' awesome.

I just hope noone was injured or hurt...

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by SlmShdy1

That's hilarious. I can just imagine someone driving down the road and seeing that sign. They were probably thinking, "What the f***?" That's frickin' awesome.

Originally Posted by dk3dknight

I just hope noone was injured or hurt...

If anyone believed the sign and got hurt..... I would just call it a case of Darwin's law in action.

[Kai Winters]

I laughed too when I read the article in an online newsie.
One of the more harmless forms of hacking.

[Blu Man]

So this is how it ends!? THIS IS HOW IT ENDS!!!??

[dk3dknight]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

If anyone believed the sign and got hurt..... I would just call it a case of Darwin's law in action.

As I said the slides were a little different one made mention to head towards colder climate... since its a city controlled sign, if there was a zombie attack those signs would be the ones to tell you get out of there.. and we had a nasty freezing fog hit in.. making those areas even more ominious...

[pmac]

Yeah I think that would make me do a double take. Pretty funny for sure.