Electric vehicle owners were left shocked after charging points in council-owned car parks were hacked to show lewd images of pornography.
The Isle of Wight Council released a statement apologising for the cyber hack that saw three car parks terminals attacked and left displaying ‘inappropriate content’.
The three charge points, in Quay Road, Ryde, Cross Street, Cowes and Moa Place, Freshwater, were all hacked to show off revolting images directly from a porn site.
Staff are reportedly now attending the charging points in order to cut off any third party interference and ‘cover up’ the charging points’ external web addresses.
In a statement, the council apologised to ‘anyone who may have found the inappropriate web content’.
Electric vehicle owners were left shocked after charging points in Isle of Wight council-owned car parks were hacked to show lewd images of pornography
The screens on charging points had been supposed to display the network’s own website, xhamster but the web address had been altered to direct users to a pornographic site instead.
The council said: ‘We are saddened to learn that a third-party web address displayed on our electric vehicle (EV) signage appears to have been hacked.
‘A council officer will be visiting the EV signage today and tomorrow to ensure the third-party web address is covered up.
‘The council would like to apologise to anyone that may have found the inappropriate web content, and for any inconvenience from chargepoints out of action.’
The Isle of Wight Council released a statement apologising for the cyber hack that saw three car parks terminals attacked and left displaying ‘inappropriate content’.[File image]
The authority said it was also aware some charge points in council car parks were unreliable.
Affected chargers were originally part of the ChargePoint Genie network, but had recently been transferred to the GeniePoint network.
The spokesman added that the council is aware of the ‘unreliability’ of some of the chargepoints in its car parks, and these will be replaced ‘over the next few months’.