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Drivers Get Eyeful After Electronic Road Sign Is Hacked

Roadside Sign Hacked

(CBS) -- An electronic road sign in St. Charles must have caused a few double-takes Thursday morning after somebody obviously hacked into it.

The sign near Route 25 and Pearson Road displayed the "B-word," on one side. And on the other: something about snakes – we'll leave it at that.

"As I was driving southbound on Route 25, I saw this sign.  I wasn't sure if what I was reading was real," motorist Shawn Viland says. "And so I turned around to see if I was hallucinating or imagining what it said."

The Illinois Department of Transportatin says the sign was operated by a private company. An agency spokeswoman says the sign's message has been corrected.

You might remember those hacking incidents from last year and before, when hackers changed the electronic road signs in some states to read "Zombies ahead."

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