The city of Encinitas is working to make its electronic road signs more secure, after one of them was tampered with to display rude messages.

The sign near Quail Gardens Drive and Leucadia Boulevard was reprogrammed last week. The messages included an obscene graphic, according to mayor Bruce Ehlers.

"It mentioned a body part and things like that on one of them," Ehlers said. "And that's just unacceptable.”

The sign was provided by a third-party contractor and was not city-owned, he said.

It’s not the first time these variable-message signs have been hacked into, Ehlers said. It's happened four times within the past three months, and now the city is clamping down on it.

“Obviously, we're upgrading all of ours signs immediately," Ehlers said. "And we're gonna put a requirement on all t

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