… at least that’s what a pair of electronic road signs warned drivers on Wednesday:
Station KXAN in Austin has the details. Apparently a group of enterprising prankster hackers changed the messages on the road signs to warn of a zombie holocaust ahead. Some samples, taken from the video report:
“Caution! Zombies ahead! The end is near!!!!!”
“Zombies ahead! Run! Nazi zombies! Run!”
The prank counts as a definite act of hacking, because on top of cutting the padlocks protecting the computer interface of the signs, the hackers needed to get past the password protection. (Which, I would guess, involved putting in whatever the factory default is. Who would think of seriously password-protecting a road sign?)
Of course, the Austin Public Works is not amused, and was quick to point out that this is a crime which potentially endangers public safety (the signs are there to warn of traffic issues), not to mention an act of vandalism (cutting padlocks).
Provided it is a one-time prank, I find it pretty amusing. I’ll have less sympathy if this becomes a recurring or copycatted event.
For now, though, a little extra unexpected silliness in the world is really appreciated.
Update: Be sure to take the KXAN poll, on a tab on the story’s web page: Do you have a zombie escape planned out already?
Good thing I got you that Zombie Survival Book for Christmas last year. I’m confident we’ll be ok should any Zombie attacks occur in Charlotte.
See, and you assumed that all that time I spent fending off feral ghouls in video games was a waste of my time. In fact, I’ve been applying state of the art simulations to train myself for the zombie holocaust!
Did Austin Public Works bother to investigate whether a zombie attack was actually taking place before slandering these prescient good Samaritans?
Ben: I hadn’t thought of that! I’ll go one even further: no doubt APW is simply trying to cover up the outbreak. After all, everyone knows that’s what governments do whenever they accidentally release some sort of zombie plague!
More importantly, who are they voting for?
[The above link would be funnier if the embedded photo was still working. 🙁 What happened to the “Zombie for Romney” pic?! Stupid Yahoo! news. Please, please, PLEASE say you archived a copy?]
PD: Alas, no! I’ve started archiving all pictures I use recently because of such problems, though…
Has the outbreak of Zombies been controlled? Is it just in Austin or are there Zombie attacks in other cities…. concerned citizens need to know!
As far as I know, the outbreak is limited to Austin, but apparently raptors have been spotted in Carmel, Indiana! 🙂
I thought all the nazi zombies had emigrated to Norway! Some must have taken the wrong road…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNfbNHQh_iI
Anna: Nice! It makes sense; zombies aren’t really known for their sense of direction… 🙂