Watch Dogs: Last month in San Francisco, a digital sign that was set on the road to alert drivers to road traffic over the weekend was hacked and the warning was written, "Turn Back. Godzilla Attack. "
The government issued its own warning to the people who installed the signs stating "Beware of hacker attacks." The journalist and security researcher Bryan Krebs, recently posted that cyber security is a concern because a hacker in Saudi Arabia, calling himself the “Sun Hacker,” hacked digital road signs across the country from May 31 to June 4. According to the expert, the violations coincide with the release of the video game "Watch Dogs" on May 27, 2014. The specific game περιστρέφεται γύρω από το «hacking», με επίκεντρο την πειρατεία των υποδομών ζωτικής σημασίας όπως electronic devices and electronic road signs.
That a joke is becoming a matter of national security, according to the Center for Internet Security, a non-profit organization under the US Department of Homeland Security. The organization monitors and sends warnings about national cyber-security issues.
"Modifications to electronic signs are common and generally display messages intended to amuse drivers, such as 'caution! there are zombies ahead," said the CIS's Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center announcement. "However, road sign changes create a public safety issue because instead of directing drivers through road hazards, they too often slow or stop traffic as drivers stop to take pictures when they see the signs."
It is very easy to hacked these signs, especially if one has physical access to them, he said Gizmodo to 2009, when he pointed out that many of them use passwords mentioned in the manuals and available on the internet. CIS reports that the Saudi hacker is probably an expert, having managed to remotely access and violate them. It is well known that Internet of Things devices are poorly designed for security because technicians believe that nobody could be interested in doing hacking without a financial incentive. The Saudi hacker, of course, proved the opposite, having violated 11 points during the past week, according to the CIS, changing the signs, and publishing its feats on Twitter.
[tweet_embed id = 467341492852240385] To mention here that "Watch Dogs" that was released last month stars a hacker who is wreaking havoc in Chicago. The hero of the game Watch Dogs uses the city's digital control system to steal data and cash. It uses the city's cameras, like its eyes, and its infrastructure as weapons. It bursts on the junction boxes, causes explosions in the gas network and flips at the traffic lights to trap its enemies. The hacker from Saudi Arabia seems to have been inspired by the game after he also published a picture of the game on his Twitter feed.The CIS says Watch Dogs is going to encourage other players to hack into cities. "The CIS believes that it is very likely that a small percentage of Watch Dog players will be experimenting with breaches of computers and electronic systems outside the game," the warning said.
