CHARLEVOIX — Hackers took control of a Michigan Department of Transportation electronic road sign in downtown Charlevoix early on Saturday morning, displaying a vulgar message to drivers.
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, Dec. 23, reports about the sign's inappropriate message were received. The sign had been placed in Charlevoix to alert drivers about upcoming construction on the bascule bridge.
According to an email from MDOT Construction Engineer Bradley Swanson that was sent to Charlevoix City Manager Mark Heydlauff at 7:24 a.m. on Saturday, the sign on U.S. 31 northbound near Marion Center Road was hacked or broken and a crass message was put on display.
“I was notified by central dispatch of this situation and immediately I contacted our MDOT maintenance folks and Charlevoix County Road Commission staff, and they were able to disable this message board very quickly,” Swanson wrote.
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First to notice the sign was Charlevoix Police Officer Christopher Munk during his nightly rounds of the city. Munk reported the problem immediately and remained on the scene, helping the Charlevoix County Road Commission disable the message board. They then checked the other message boards in town to ensure they had not also been hacked, according to Swanson.
“MDOT is investigating this matter and working with our contractor to ensure that this does not happen again, also we are working to prevent a ‘copycat’ repeat situation,” wrote Swanson to Heydlauff.
In a separate email sent to Heydlauff at 9:15 a.m., Swanson wrote that “it has been determined that this was indeed, a cyber-attack, we are investigating the IP address at this point to determine if we can find out who did it, and then proceed to prosecute.”
Charlevoix Police Chief Jill McDonnell confirmed the incident and provided the Courier with a photo of the sign, which is not appropriate for publication.
MDOT did not respond to requests for comment.
This article will be updated when more information is available.
— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231) 675-0099 oradoyle@charlevoixcourier
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