San Francisco Transport System Hacked: $70000 Demanded

The website of San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency was recently hacked, a total of $70,000 in Bitcoin is demanded by the hackers as to free the network from the infection.

Criminals are using ransomware to spread their evil plans, and their latest victim was the San Francisco transport system. Just this weekend, the PC ransomware was able to find their ways to the computers of the Municipal Transportation Agency, therefore, affecting the light rail system of the city.

Reports said that the hackers are asking for 100 Bitcoin, which estimates to $70,000. The hackers left a message to their ticketing system, which read: "You Hacked, ALL Data Encrypted." In a broken English, the hackers further explained: "We don't attention to interview and propagate news! Our software working completely automatically and we don't have targeted attack to anywhere! SFMTA network was Very Open and 2000 Server/PC infected by software! So we are waiting for contact any responsible person in SFMTA but I think they don't want a deal! So we close this email tomorrow!"

What is primarily presumed to be a serious cause of alarm, the hacking incident, however, turned out to be just a minor issue. Nothing really bad happened aside from the machines being turned off, therefore, allowing the passengers to get free rides.

Furthermore, it seems like the hackers will never be able to enjoy the ransom as the transport system is currently back to normal as of today. Paul Rose, the spokesperson of Muni, said "There's no impact to the transit service, but we have opened the fare gates as a precaution to minimize customer impact," He further said that since the situation is currently being investigated, he won't be able to provide much more details: "Because this is an ongoing investigation it would not be appropriate to provide additional details at this point."