No guarantee personal info wasn’t accessed in TransLink hack: minister
Posted December 4, 2020 1:10 pm.
Last Updated December 4, 2020 1:34 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — There can be no absolute, ironclad guarantee the personal information of riders or workers was not accessed during the cyberattack on TransLink, says the minister in charge of the transit authority.
Minister George Heyman said Friday that until the investigation into the cyber attack has been completed, he’s not in a position to promise anyone that their information wasn’t accessed.
“The decisions about how to respond to a ransom request rests with TransLink and the authorities and the police, with whom they’re in contact,” he said. “It is not up to the province to tell TransLink what the appropriate response is. I think it’s probably prudent for me to say no more on the matter. An investigation is ongoing by both TransLink and other authorities.”
At this point, Heyman said there’s no information to indicate the hackers gained access to anyone’s private financial information.
He adds TransLink has done everything in its power to ensure private information is secure. When the hack was first identified at the beginning of the week, TransLink shut down several services as a precaution, including the Compass card vending machines for several days.
“They’ve been reopened to ensure there’s convenience for transit users, but reopened with the full knowledge that using them is entirely safe for British Columbians,” Heyman said.
Commuters weren’t able to use their credit or debit cards again at the machines until Thursday afternoon.
Around that time, TransLink confirmed it was indeed a hack that led to the IT shutdown decision, which NEWS 1130 had reported earlier in the day.
In CEO Kevin Desmond’s statement Thursday, he had assured customers their credit card and payment information has not been accessed.
“TransLink does not store fare payment data. We use a secure third-party payment processor for all fare transactions, and we do not have access to that type of data,” the statement reads.
NEWS 1130 obtained a copy of the ransom demand. The letter, which sources said was coming out of printers at TransLink, read: “Your network was attacked, your computers and servers were locked.”
The note went on to threaten to release certain information in three days if TransLink does not meet its demands, which were unspecified in this letter. The hackers also instructed the transit authority to download a private browser in order to proceed.
