Some computer systems at the city's public transportation service are taken over in a ransomware attack.

San Francisco public transportation authorities have contained a ransomware attack after hackers got onboard the computer system governing the city's light-rail and bus services over the holiday weekend.

During the attack, confirmed by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, payment systems throughout the Muni Metro system were closed down. Screens in the transit system displayed a message reading, "You Hacked, ALL Data Encrypted," according to the San Francisco Examiner.

The hackers reportedly asked for $73,000 in bitcoin to restore the system. The so-called ransomware attack began on Friday.

Some riders posted photos of the attack message on Twitter, which included an email address from a Russian web service.

SFMTA called the situation "fully contained" on Sunday, adding "we have prioritized restoring our systems to be fully operational."

The transportation service said some computer systems, including email, were were disrupted. Service and safety, as well as customer privacy, were unaffected, the SFMTA said.

Source:
courtesy of CNET

by Andrew Morse

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