Traffic Signals Easily Hacked, Australian Systems At Risk: Security Researcher

Traffic signals around the world are easy targets for computer hackers, a US-based security researcher has warned.

Researcher Cesar Cerrudo says he was able to locate and hack devices used by traffic control systems in the US, with similar systems in use in the UK, France, China and Australia.

Cerrudo says it wasn’t difficult to find vulnerabilities in the system, and while the system does not allow access to individual lights, anyone with a “simple exploit programmed on cheap hardware” could cause traffic chaos.