A digital variable message board positioned on Nelson Road in Longmont was hacked by an unknown party this past weekend. The sign read “BOOBS PART 2.” This is the second instance of a digital message board hacking that has occurred in the city in less than one month.
The message “BOOBS PART 2” is a reference to a digital variable message board that was hacked in Longmont two weeks ago. On May 25, an unknown party had hacked into the signing software for a message board near Silver Creek High School and remotely changed the message to “BOOBS.” The digital message board that was targeted is owned by a contractor working for the city. The message was removed on May 28, and the city said that added security measures had been put into place so that the incident could not be repeated.
Despite the added security measures, a hacking incident occurred again on June 8, when a digital messaging board, also on Nelson Road, was changed to read “BOOBS PART 2.” According to the public information officer for the City of Longmont, Rogelio Mares, the owner of AAA Barricade (Traffic Control Company) was contacted and they took immediate action and remotely changed the sign within the hour of being notified.
It is unknown who the perpetrator of either hacking is and it is unclear whether or not the hacking was done by the same person.
In response to the hacking on June 8, Mares said that the city’s response aligns with its response to the initial hacking that occurred on May 25. The city classifies both hackings as “acts of vandalism.”
“Our project manager is still working closely with our contractor’s management team to permanently resolve this issue and we are monitoring the VMBs on a much tighter frequency until we reach a resolution,” Mares said.
Mares said that the project manager advised the City of Longmont that these are not isolated cases and that CDOT has experienced similar vandalism.
