Early Thursday, the Irish Times reported that a Dublin-based Tram operator was under attack by a hacker. In particular, the hacker took control of a website that contains records of over 3,000 users. According to Luas, the Tram operator, they reached the Data Protection Commissioner about the matter.
Technicians working on the issue
Notably, the website provides general information to users like parking and routes. Also, the website enables users to register for newsletter updates and other important information. Therefore, it is apparent that the hacker has customer information including emails.
However, Luas said that its technicians are on the ground and are working through the backend to remedy the situation. In a tweet, Luas advised its customers not to conduct any activity on the website.
“Due to an ongoing issue, please do not click onto the Luas website. We currently have technicians working on the issue. We will be using this forum only for travel updates should the need arise,” the tweet reads.
In addition to the information, the company provided a number which users can call to access help. Interestingly, the hacking activity looks amateurish. Notably, the hacker claims that the website contains security holes which he/she warned to exploit earlier.
Bitcoin extortion case not new
Further, the hacker left a message saying that the company should pay one bitcoin to regain control of the website. In particular, the hacker wants the ransom paid in under five days. Failure to send the digital currency, the hacker threatened to publish all customer related data including their emails.
Nonetheless, Luas told the Irish Times that the website is now offline and IT technicians are onto the issue. Interestingly, this is just one bitcoin extortion case in the many, especially for the past year. According to Bleeping Computer, victims paid over $50,000 to hackers who had blackmailed them. Interestingly, the victims had to send bitcoin to addresses provided for the hacker to release them from blackmail.
Notably, Bleeping Computer found that blackmail victims were paying the hackers. Interestingly, the $50,000 came from only 30 blackmail victims.
