‘Read A F–king Book’: Road Sign Displays Profane Message After Hack

A road sign in downtown Los Angeles placed near a road work site was reportedly modified by alleged hackers.

Daily Mail reports that hackers apparently targeted a WiFi-enabled road sign, altering its existing message with a much more obscene one.

“Read A F–king Book”

Located between 4th Avenue and South Hope Street, drivers were more than likely left in shock after seeing the message appear as they approached the area. Through an official spokesman, Traffic Management Incorporated confirmed that the targeted road sign had indeed been hacked. It was also confirmed that the message which was replaced was actually referencing possible journey delays for approaching drivers.

Since the targeted road sign was WiFi-enabled, the hacker (or hackers) responsible for the message replacement could have been using a mobile device or laptop to accomplish their goal.

However, according to the spokesman, the hacker may have walked directly up to the road sign and manually altered the message that way. The same person may have also been the one that changed an additional sign located further down the same road, displaying the same offensive message.

The second sign was confirmed by journalist Daina Beth Solomon, the person that originally tweeted a picture of the hacked sign.

Daily Mail reports that the displays of both targeted road signs have since been cleared while the pictures of their now-deleted messages continue to circulate online.

This is not the first time that a hacker has made headlines in recent months.

Popular online gaming networks connected to Xbox and PlayStation consoles were hacked on Christmas Day by a group called the Lizard Squad. The group later stated that their objective for the cyber attack was to teach online gamers the value of spending the holiday with their families instead of their video game consoles.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Sony Pictures made headlines when confidential employee details and email exchanges were leaked to the public by anonymous hackers. The attack was supposedly connected to the studio’s decision to launch the controversial movie, The Interview, a film which focused on the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

On Monday night, the U.S. Central Command was targeted by Islamic State affiliated jihadis that hacked into their social media accounts, altering a series of images of black flags connected to radial Islam. Multiple videos focusing on content that was viewed sympathetic to ISIS were also posted by those hackers in addition to addresses of American soldiers.

The downtown L.A. road signs that read “Read a f–king book” have now been added to this growing list.