The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) hit by a ransomware attack

A ransomware attack hit the systems at the Toronto Transit Commission public transportation agency and disrupted its operations.

The Toronto Transit Commission announced on Friday that its systems have been infected with ransomware, the attack began on Thursday night and disrupted its activities. At this time, no ransomware gang has taken responsibility for the attack.

TTC spokesman, Stuart Green, initially declared that the attack had no significant impact on the transit service, but things have gotten worse since Friday.

“Impact was minimal until midday today (Friday) when hackers broadened their strike on network servers,” reads a press release published by the agency.

The security breach impacted the agency’s internal email server, the Wheel-Trans bookings, the vehicle information on platform screens, apps, and the TTC Vision communication system, along with other internal systems.

The drivers were forced to communicate using a classic radio-based communication system.

The TTC also announced to have canceled a Saturday subway closure on Line 1 between St. Clair and College stations which was going to be used to complete track work.

“The full extent of the attack is being looked into and the TTC is working with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts on this matter. The City of Toronto’s IT Services department has also been consulted.” continues the statement.

The public transportation routes were not impacted by the incident. TTC reported the incident to the authorities and an investigation is still ongoing.

This isn’t the first ransomware attack that hit the public transportation systems in Canada. In October 2020, an attack hit Montreal’s STM, and two months later another attack hit Metro Vancouver’s transportation agency TransLink.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

[adrotate banner=”9″]

[adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, ransomware)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]