Clay County deputies remove racial slurs from hacked electronic signs

3 years ago 239

One of the privately owned signs sits on roadworthy betwixt 2 schools

An physics motion successful Oakleaf Community Park was vandalized with radical slurs, deputies said. (WJXT)

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Racist messages posted connected 2 backstage physics connection boards successful Oakleaf Plantation were removed aboriginal Thursday greeting by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.

The institution that owns the signs told News4Jax idiosyncratic broke into their computers overnight to alteration the signs from advertizing escaped COVID investigating to radical slurs.

The Sheriff’s Office posted Thursday connected Facebook saying they were notified astir the vandalized boards and erstwhile they investigated they recovered the signs with hateful messages that included radical slurs.

One of those signs is disposable to drivers and sits connected Plantation Oaks Boulevard betwixt Oakleaf High School and Oakleaf Junior High School. The different motion was successful a parking batch of Oakleaf Community Park astir a quarter-mile from the archetypal sign, deputies said.

The Sheriff’s Office said it became alert of the concern aft a 911 call.

Deputies who responded disabled the physics signs and are inactive investigating who posted the messages.

It’s believed idiosyncratic broke into an unlocked and susceptible machine to reprogram the signs, which person been utilized to advertise escaped coronavirus investigating for the past 3 weeks.

United Rentals, which leased retired the signs, told News4Jax they were near overnight with the machine that programs the sign’s connection unlocked and a marker utilized to constitute the computer’s password successful a disposable place. That’s each it took for idiosyncratic to reprogram the signs with radical slurs.

Chris Hamer, a cyber information expert, said the signs are deliberately made to beryllium easy reprogrammable.

“The roadworthy signs are precise elemental computers, constricted leafage representation due to the fact that you don’t request a unit moving connected the broadside of the roadworthy having to spell done a agelong analyzable programming process oregon person specialized hardware oregon thing else,” Hamer said.

A United Rentals spokesperson said by telephone they “Obviously would not ever condone the connection enactment there” and the institution leasing them has secured the computers truthful nary 1 other tin reprogram the sign’s message.

“To maine it’s pointless. What’s the point? What’s the motive? What bash radical get retired of it different than hurting people’s feelings?” Oakleaf nonmigratory Kierston Johnson said.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said anyone with accusation astir who was progressive is asked to telephone 904-264-6512.