Emergency siren hacking in Dallas brings ‘Watch Dogs 2’ scenario to life

Fisherman’s Wharf in Watch Dogs 2 (Image Credit: Ubisoft)

It can be amusing when life imitates art. But that’s not always the case, especially if seen as a possible threat to security. On Friday night, Dallas found itself under attack by hackers who took control of all emergency sirens in the city. All 156 sirens in the city started blaring at 11:40 p.m. and continued to do so for the next 40 minutes. Of course, this caused panic in the city with residents worried about the attack. Dallas officials won’t name the nature of the breach for security reasons but they acknowledged that the attack originated locally and that they were being “continuously” hacked because every time they turned it off, the alarm would sound again after.

This type of attack seemed to have taken inspiration from Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs 2 video game. Debuted back in December, the game showed how it was possible to hack “smart cities” and the Internet of Things. And while the game seem to have taken a simplistic approach to this, this attack on the US city shows that it is possible. And we have to be on alert now more than ever.

Source: VentureBeat