Several crosswalk audio signals were hacked in Denver over the weekend, surprising pedestrians with not only a verbal indication that the walk light was on, but with an anti-President Donald Trump message.
“The walk signal is on, (expletive) Trump. The walk signal is on, Trump murders children,” the robotic voices of the hacked crosswalk audio signals appear to say in .
Two crosswalks were hacked on East Colfax Avenue — one at North Pearl Street and a second at North Washington Street, Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Communications Director Nancy Kuhn said. At least one of the videos on social media .
“Did that say (expletive) Trump?” . “That was sick.”
Audio signals at crosswalks are designed to help visually impaired people navigate intersections safely and are activated by the crosswalk push-buttons.
The crosswalk push-buttons were newly installed and weren’t meant to be operational yet, but recently got powered on, Kuhn said. The devices were “still bagged and with their factory settings that included a default password that we now have learned is easy to find online,” she said.
City officials changed the password and “don’t expect a repeat situation at these locations,” Kuhn said.
The hacked crosswalk box at Colfax and Pearl was discovered and disconnected Friday night, and the signal at Colfax and Washington was addressed Saturday morning, Kuhn said.
The Denver Police Department declined to comment on whether the person responsible for hacking the signals had been identified or whether they would face any charges, citing the ongoing investigation.
