2000 machines of San Francisco's Light Railway Train system have been hacked. The San Francisco Examiner reported that the system was hacked Friday afternoon,
The Verge reported that the staff had to shut down all machines on the San Francisco's Light Railway Train system network as a precautionary measure. They also shut down the affected ticketing machines. As a result, train commuters were able to travel for free.
The hackers demanded a ransom of 100 Bitcoin which is about $70,000 or approximately £56,000 or €66,000. The hackers also left a message "You Hacked, ALL Data Encrypted. Contact For Key(cryptom27@yandex.com)ID:681 ,Enter" all over the screens of the hacked San Francisco's Light Railway Train system machines. Yandex is an internet company from Russia that also provides social networking tools other than emails.
The hack did not affected the trains. A spokesman told BBC that the attack had no impact on the San Francisco's Light Railway Train system, the train's safety systems or the customer's private information. There were no additional details will be released since the incident is still under investigation.
Muni or The Municipal Transport Agency is in charge of San Francisco's Light Railway Train, trams, buses and the iconic cable cars. The officials backed up the ticketing. As of the moment, there are no reports if the hack has been contained.
Hoodline, a San Francisco news site told BBC that the hackers provided the list of infected machines in San Francisco's Light Railway Train system. The infected machines included not only the ticketing machines but also employee terminals, payroll machines and systems that might include the employees' personal information.
The hackers, who held San Francisco's Light Railway Train system for ransom, also informed Hoodline on Sunday that The Municipal Transport Agency has one day to make the deal. In September this year, Morphus labs found a ransomware strain called Mamba, similar to this attack.
Another incident with a ransomware this year attacked Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center systems. Its records was held ransom for $3.6 billion. The Hollywood Presbyterian ransom money is way more than the $70,000 ransom for San Francisco's Light Railway Train system.
