A British shopping center in the vicinity of Liverpool was purportedly defaced with a cheeky message by a group of anonymous hackers on May 29, BBC reports.
“We suggest you improve your security,” the collective wrote on the screen, identifying themselves as the “friendly neighborhood hackers.”
The writing appeared on a large outdoor display at the Liverpool One shopping center situated just outside of the city. According to reports, no other screens were affected – though passers-by said that several other billboards have since been deactivated.
Numerous users on Reddit and Twitter have reported spotting the tampered billboard, but Liverpool One was quick to respond to the spoof, closing down the screen as soon as it was notified about the incident.
Seen at Liverpool One today pic.twitter.com/bkYIiasxze
— Ash (@Skeptidiot) May 29, 2017
It remains unclear who was responsible for the hacking. A spokesperson for the shopping center has since told BBC that the “screens are operated by an external company [Elonex] which is currently investigating what happened as a matter of urgency.”
“We can confirm an incident occurred over the weekend on one of the 18 screens we operate at Liverpool One,” a spokesperson for Elonex told BBC. “The incident appears to have been good-natured and not intended to cause offence or disruption, for which we are grateful.”
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