Computer hackers target the Sacramento Regional Transit system and demand a whopping ransom of a single Bitcoin.
There have been quite a few major stories concerning technology in 2017, such as the meteoric rise in the value of Bitcoin. Another huge feature of the past year has been the sheer number of ransomware attacks by hackers. Now the Sacramento Regional Transit system is the latest victim, but it appears that the hackers responsible don’t need much cash as they are only asking for a single Bitcoin in ransom.
It’s a Trap!
Hackers targeted the Sacramento Regional Transit system over the weekend, announcing their presence by defacing the agency’s website with a note that read:
I’m sorry to modify the home page, i’m good hacker, i I just want to help you fix these vulnerability. This is one of the loopholes, modify the home page …
However, the message was a trap. When techs made the decision to see if any damage had been done by going into the system, they activated the hacking attack that deleted 30 million files. The files erased were for internal operations of the Sacramento Regional Transit system, such as those used for assigning routes and dispatching employees. The good news is that no data was actually stolen.
Overall, 70 million files were saved from being deleted by the ransomware attack. A spokeswoman for the SacRT said:
The hacker put malware into the system – that deleted the files. Our IT team shut everything down –by rebooting the system that stopped the attack from worsening.
Show Me the … Single Bitcoin?
The interesting facet of this incident is that the hacker’s demands were for a single Bitcoin. The hacker(s) left a message on the company’s Facebook page, saying:
hello, I will always attack your website, we are hackers. we can do everything. Pay us now to stop attacking.
The current value of a single Bitcoin is fluctuating around $8,000. However, the company has refused to pay, and they say that there was no significant slow down for the agency’s customers.
Overall, it’s likely that the hacker is some bored individual looking to show off, but it’s probable that quite a few riders of the SacRT were impacted during the weekend. The one bit of good news is that news reports are focusing on the ransomware nature of the attack and not laying blame on the inclusion of cryptocurrency.
Do you think the hacker(s) were just goofing around by asking for a single Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay, and Flickr.