The audio-enabled traffic-controlled crosswalk button across Silicon Valley was hacked over the weekend and contained an audio snippet that mimics the voices of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
Videos shot by locals in Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Redwood City in California show that they were making AI-generated speeches designed to make the crosswalk button sound like 200 million.
“One crosswalk button hacked to sound like Zuckerberg said: “I just want to assure you. There’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop it, so you don’t have to worry.”
The button on one crosswalk that was hacked as Musk said, “I think money would say you can’t buy happiness… I think that’s true. God knows I’ve tried it.
“F-K, I’m very alone,” adds Musk.
It is not clear whether the sidewalk buttons have been hacked or who has been hacked by whom, but the signs point to possible hacktivism.
Palo Alto Online, one of the first outlets to report the hack, said Redwood City officials were “actively working to investigate and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.” According to the outlet, the tampering could have happened on Friday.
Audio-enabled crosswalk buttons are widely used across the United States because visually impaired or accessible people need to hear custom audio messages they play to know that pedestrians are safe to cross the street.
In the 2024 video, Physical Penetration Specialist and Security Researcher Deviant Ollam explains how to frequently operate audio-enabled crosswalk buttons with unchanged default passwords.
Polara, the company that manufactures audio-enabled crosswalk buttons, did not respond to requests for comment when contacted by TechCrunch on Monday.
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