In April, residents of Palo Alto and nearby areas were shocked to hear voices resembling Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg at crosswalks. Traffic lights on the historic El Camino Real road unexpectedly began to play strange jokes, including ones about Donald Trump and intrusive artificial intelligence. Initially, it seemed like a joke, but it turned out to be a serious vulnerability.
One of the buttons, mimicking Zuckerberg's voice, said: "It's okay to feel discomfort or even a violation of personal space as we integrate artificial intelligence into every aspect of your conscious experience. Don't worry, there's nothing you can do about it."
Meanwhile, the button sounding like Musk stated: "They say happiness can't be bought... Maybe that's true. I tried, but you can buy a Cybertruck with money, and that's not bad, right?" Then the "Musk voice" added: "Damn, I'm so lonely."
Meanwhile, the button sounding like Musk stated: "They say happiness can't be bought... Maybe that's true. I tried, but you can buy a Cybertruck with money, and that's not bad, right?" Then the "Musk voice" added: "Damn, I'm so lonely."
A study revealed that hackers were able to substitute audio messages due to a simple vulnerability. According to information obtained by journalists through requests under California's Public Records Act, the agency Caltrans, responsible for road infrastructure, had not changed factory passwords. This allowed attackers to access settings and replace sound files with their own recordings imitating the voices of famous personalities.
Incidents occurred in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Redwood City. After the substitution became known, Caltrans temporarily disabled the audio feature to stop the playback of fake messages. The function was later restored, but an investigation was launched to understand how this could happen.
Correspondence revealed that the equipment manufacturer had repeatedly warned Caltrans and the authorities of Menlo Park about the need to use secure passwords. A representative of Menlo Park clarified that only Caltrans devices were affected. In response to the incident, Caltrans conducted a review and discovered other intersections with similar problems, after which passwords were changed to prevent such occurrences in the future.
Interestingly, older systems turned out to be less prone to hacking. At the intersection of El Camino Real and Ravenswood, nothing similar occurred. According to Professor Ahmed Banafa from the engineering department at San Jose State University, older systems often have control centralized in one unit, requiring physical intervention from an attacker to change data. Newer systems use Bluetooth, allowing potential attackers to connect to them via radio channels from nearby, for example, using a smartphone.
On University Avenue in Palo Alto, the most vivid "lines" were heard. Pedestrians could hear Elon Musk's voice making comments about Trump, while inserts imitating other voices added a humorous context. Another hacked signal presented itself as Mark Zuckerberg, who sarcastically commented on the integration of AI into all aspects of human experience, claiming that it was impossible to stop.
This story particularly resonates with locals, as Musk indeed lived in Palo Alto during the PayPal era, and Tesla's headquarters was located in the city for a long time. Meta is located in Menlo Park, where Zuckerberg also has property. However, the main takeaway remains unchanged: loud incidents sometimes occur not due to complex vulnerabilities but because of simple ignorance regarding security, as passwords have not been changed since production.
