Research unveiled today shows how vulnerabilities in smart city" technology could be compromised by hackers. Bugs were found in major cities in the U.S. and Europe, with teams from IBM and Threatcare disclosing a series of "disturbing" scenarios that could soon play out for real. These included the abuse of flood warnings, radiation alarms and, yes, traffic networks. "If someone ... were to abuse vulnerabilities like the ones we documented in smart city systems, the effects could range from inconvenient to catastrophic," a report said. The experts were inspired by the recent incident in Hawaii in which an alert warned citizens that a ballistic missile was inbound. The blaring island alarms, made in error, caused mass panic. Research found 17 major flaws in four smart city systems, eight of which were labeled "critical." They spotted basic errors, including weak passwords and basic authentication flaws. "Security around these sensors and controls must be a lot more stringent," wrote IBM's Daniel Crowley. "Attackers could manipulate water level sensor responses to report flooding in an area where there is none - creating panic, evacuations and destabilization," Crowley wrote. In another example, he said: "Controlling additional systems could enable an attacker to set off a string of building alarms or trigger gunshot sounds on audio sensors across town, further fueling panic."