Buses and light rail cars make up San Francisco’s “Muni” fleet, the seventh largest mass transit system in America. But yesterday its arrival-time screens just displayed the message “You Hacked, ALL Data Encrypted” according to a local CBS report:
Inside sources say the system has been hacked for days.
SFMTA has officially confirmed the hack, but says it has not affected any service.
A spokesperson with the transit agency tells KPIX 5 it is an ongoing investigation.
“There’s no impact to the transit service, but we have opened the fare gates as a precaution to minimize customer impact,” said Muni spokesperson Paul Rose. “Because this is an ongoing investigation it would not be appropriate to provide additional details at this point.”
By opening the fare gates, it means that users of the transit system are getting free rides. But this hack goes beyond free rides:
The hack affects employees, as well. According to sources, SFMTA workers are not sure if they will get paid this week.
Cyber attackers also hit Muni’s email systems.
Lovely. According to another report, the hackers are asking for $73K to go away.
I think this highlights that everyone needs to take cybersecurity seriously. Because today a transit system get pwnded. Tomorrow it will be a power plant. The day after that, it could be some crucial military system. Two years ago, I’d get laughed at for even suggesting that. But today, it’s not that far fetched.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
This entry was posted on November 28, 2016 at 10:30 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
San Fran Transit System Gets Pwned By Ransomware
Buses and light rail cars make up San Francisco’s “Muni” fleet, the seventh largest mass transit system in America. But yesterday its arrival-time screens just displayed the message “You Hacked, ALL Data Encrypted” according to a local CBS report:
Inside sources say the system has been hacked for days.
SFMTA has officially confirmed the hack, but says it has not affected any service.
A spokesperson with the transit agency tells KPIX 5 it is an ongoing investigation.
“There’s no impact to the transit service, but we have opened the fare gates as a precaution to minimize customer impact,” said Muni spokesperson Paul Rose. “Because this is an ongoing investigation it would not be appropriate to provide additional details at this point.”
By opening the fare gates, it means that users of the transit system are getting free rides. But this hack goes beyond free rides:
The hack affects employees, as well. According to sources, SFMTA workers are not sure if they will get paid this week.
Cyber attackers also hit Muni’s email systems.
Lovely. According to another report, the hackers are asking for $73K to go away.
I think this highlights that everyone needs to take cybersecurity seriously. Because today a transit system get pwnded. Tomorrow it will be a power plant. The day after that, it could be some crucial military system. Two years ago, I’d get laughed at for even suggesting that. But today, it’s not that far fetched.
Share this:
Like this:
Related
This entry was posted on November 28, 2016 at 10:30 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Hacked. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.