On November 25, 2016 San Francisco experienced a major ransomware attack that took down their Municipal Transportation Agency, also known as Muni. The ransomware took down over 2,000 Muni payment and scheduling systems. To accommodate the transportation needs of the San Francisco population, the city ordered all of the fare gates to be kept open. This resulted in free rides for everyone. According to Bank Info Security, San Francisco is losing roughly $559,000 each day the Muni does not collect transportation fares.
Although there was speculation about this attack being politically targeted, sending the message that all public transportation should be free, that is not the case. The hacker that goes by “Andy Saolis” stated the attack was money driven. The ransom demand made was for 100 bitcoins, or $73,000. At this time, it is unknown if the city plans to pay the ransom demand. Saolis reported if the demands are not met, 30 gigabytes of data will be exposed. Saolis stated this data includes contracts, LLD plans and employee & customer data.
To see a full list of ransomware attacks that have taken place, you can click here. We have also created a ransomware map, see below, of the ransomware attacks that have taken place in the U.S. this year.
