Attackers take over Perth's Yagan Square touchscreens

Digital signage in Perth’s newly-opened Yagan Square was compromised overnight to display pornographic content from one of the internet's biggest porn sites.

A photo published on Twitter showed the hacked screen displaying PornHub content. It reportedly stayed that way for about an hour before the Square’s operator, the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA), took the two displays offline.

Yagan Square, which only opened a month ago, has been billed as a “family-friendly”, Federation Square-like space for Perth.

An MRA spokesperson confirmed the compromise of “two touchscreen wayfinding signs, one at each entrance of the William Street Mall".

“Unfortunately, it appears that these screens were compromised [yesterday] evening and for a brief period of time some inappropriate content was displayed on one of the screens,” the spokesperson said.

“Both screens were immediately turned off and power has also been switched off to the units to eliminate all possibilities of a recurrence.

“The MRA takes this matter very seriously and will undertake a full investigation to understand how this event has happened and identify those responsible.”

The apparent compromise did not affect the square’s 45m-high digital tower, which is used as a canvas to display art.

The spokesperson did not detail whether a preliminary assessment had identified the source of the compromise.

Update, 6.33pm: The MRA has outlined its findings on the initial cause of the incident.