SF’s Transit Hack Could’ve Been Way Worse—And Cities Must Prepare
San Francisco’s public transit riders got what seemed like a Black Friday surprise: The system wouldn’t take their money. Not that Muni’s bosses didn’t want to, or suddenly forgot about their agency’s budget shortfalls.
Nope—someone had attacked Muni’s computer system and was demanding a ransom. Monitors in station agent booths were seen with the message, “You Hacked. ALL data encrypted,” and the culprit allegedly demanded 100 Bitcoin (about $73,000).
The agency acknowledged the attack, which also disrupted its email system, and a representative said the agency refused to pay off the attacker. Muni says it turned off payment machines and opened the gates as a precaution.1 Trains were still running, so that meant at least people could get where they were going. By Monday morning, everything was back to normal.
