US radio stations KIFT and KXAX hacked with sex ramblings aired

Colorado-based radio station KIFT was apparently hacked by unknown people, who stalled regular content to broadcast a sexually explicit podcast about the "furry" culture group known as the FurCast. The unauthorised broadcast lasted for about 90 minutes as the unknown party took over the station's IP address that sends the signal out, as station engineers were locked out.

The management of the company issued a statement regarding the broadcast, apologising to its users saying:

Along with this another radio channel, Texas-based country music station KXAX, was also hacked, broadcasting similar raunchy furry-themed audio. The FurCast (a hobbyist group dedicated to furry sex) sexually explicit content aired for an hour, possibly two according to owner and general manager of the KXAX Radio Group Jason Mclelland, who said he did not understand the point of the hack.

Mclelland also added that the hack was carried out by people who managed to take control of an audio streaming device sold by a company called Barix, which appears to have been targeted when running factory default settings. To warn of other possible hacks like these, an advisory published by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters said: "Hackers like these have been accumulating passwords for some time. So make sure that your password is of sufficient strength! Barix Boxes takes up to 24 characters and in at least two cases six character passwords were easily cracked."

Prior to these hacks, in 2013, TV stations in California, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico and Tennessee had their scheduled broadcasts stalled to air an imminent zombie invasion broadcast. In that case, the cause of the compromise was weaknesses in hardware used to deliver emergency alerts.