Billboard hackers given security bounty

Similar to the way that Kim Dotcom's Mega has been doling out rewards to those that manage to find flaws in its security, a pair of hackers from Serbia have been given prizes for hacking into a local billboard and playing space invaders on it.

We reported on the duo last week, who hail from Belgrade, the nation's capital. The were able to hack into a local digital billboard and play a game of space invaders, display messages and even throw up a Pirate Bay logo. The two students said that they completed the hack, in order to highlight the woeful IT security surrounding the billboard technology.

In an uplifting turn of events, the billboard advertiser – DPC – didn't go after them with legal action or outrageous demands, but has instead commended them, given each a 4G iPad mini and inviting them to speak about cyber crime and security issues at the company's HQ.

“This has never happened before, but we appreciate the fact that these guys have, in a charming way, pointed us to this huge problem. Now it is clearer than ever that we need to protect ourselves better,” said DPC’s manager, Slobodan Petrovic (via TorrentFreak).

“It was really nice of them that they admitted that there was security hole, but in my opinion the company who sells the screens was responsible for that mostly,” one of the students said.

“I think it is unusual and very cool to respond like that. It probably wasn’t the best way to demonstrate the vulnerability, but perhaps we wouldn't have gotten their attention otherwise.”

KitGuru Says: Really nice to see a company act like this to a non-malicious security breach. If this sort of thing was done in the UK or US, you can guarantee those lads would have spent a few days in jail.

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