British Railway Passengers Attacked

Uploaded on 2024-09-27 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-Transport & Travel

Wi-Fi networks at a number of train stations across the UK have been suspended after being hacked. British Transport Police are investigating after there was an attack on Wi-Fi networks at 19 stations across the country, which are run by Network Rail.

Passengers logging onto the Wi-Fi saw a webpage containing details of Islamist terrorist incidents in the UK and abroad. So far, no personal data is known to have been affected.

Now, a man has been arrested after passengers at many of the nation's busiest train stations were affected

The police say the suspect is an employee of Global Reach Technology, which provides Wi-Fi services to Network Rail. The man was arrested on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and offences under the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

Ten London Stations in were were affected: They are: Euston, Victoria, King’s Cross, London Bridge, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Clapham Junction and Waterloo.

Stations outside London affected include: Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street, Glasgow Central, Leeds City, Liverpool Lime Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Edinburgh Waverley, Reading, and Guildford.

This incident follows a recent attack on Transport for London which runs Bus, Underground, Overground and other public transport services in the capital. That exploit is understood to have potentially exposed the bank account details of about 5k train passengers, either via activity on their Oyster card account or refund data. This data includes account numbers and sort codes.

A 17-year-old male was arrested on September 5th on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences in relation to that attack.

In coment, Kev Eley, Vice President UKI at Exabeam said “The cyberattack on Network Rail marks a major cybersecurity incident in the UK.. There are several layers to this incident that make it particularly concerning. Firstly, there is the sheer scale of the attack and the widespread disruption that comes with this... Beyond the disruption caused, the attack raises questions around the security of personal data used to access National Rail Wi-Fi services...

What makes this attack even more worrying is its potential to cause widespread panic due to the nature of the message displayed to passengers when they logged into the Wi-Fi.

Ultimately, this incident serves as an important reminder of the significant risk posed by third-party suppliers and why it is vital that this element of cybersecurity is not overlooked." Eley said

Image: @networkrail

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