An anonymous hacker in Austin, Texas, played a prank on morning commuters earlier this week by changing the public safety message display of two LED road signs to warnings of zombie attacks.

Some of the messages included apocalyptic warnings like “The End is Near !!!,” “Zombies in Area – Run!” and “Nazi Zombies, Run!”

Hacking LED road signs isn’t considered a difficult task because many of the people in charge of setting their security protection are (usually) not technically savvy. For example, the control pad inside the LED casing usually has the same default four-letter password(“DOTS”) as every other sign. In addition, many sites on the internet provide easy hacking How-Tos, though you don’t need to follow a road map to notice that the back of the panels are only protected by a small lock.

If you take into account the fact that almost anyone can walk up to the signs without being noticed, it’s quite easy to understand how it’s a perfect recipe for mischievous hackers. Actually, it’s more of a surprise it doesn’t happen more often. MIT students, to name one famously hack-happy group, have been posting road sign hacks on the net for many years. However, their humor often veers closer to East Coast cultural worries, such as unexpected attacks from Godzilla.

The sign may have been inspired by the top-grossing computer game Call of Duty 5: World at war, which has a bonus level featuring a Nazi zombie attack. It may not be the real thing just yet, but if you’ve come across anything zombified please write in and let us know.

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