Public bus service TheBus victim of ransomware attack?

Oʻahu in Honolulu confirms that the organization that runs the public bus service , TheBus , is working with the FBI and Honolulu police to investigate a “ network outage ,” but Hawaii News Now has learned that an international cybersecurity firm says it was a ransomware attack.

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Monday was the third day of the shutdown at Oahu Transit Services.

International cybersecurity firm Falcon Feeds reported on social media that OTS, which operates TheBus, had fallen victim to DragonForce, a ransomware ring operating out of Malaysia. While TheBus and TheHandi-Van are still operating, their websites are down.

In a statement, OTS said its network collapsed at approximately 1 a.m. Saturday.

“Oahu Transit Services (OTS) online services including the website www.thebus.org, HEA and related real-time transit and GPS apps are currently unavailable,” the statement said.

Former HPD Deputy Chief John McCarthysaid the outage certainly sounds like a ransomware attack — "someone else is taking control of their system, at least partially, if not completely, and they're controlling the data and holding it, demanding some kind of ransom."

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Associate Professor Debasis Bhattacharya is the director of the Center for Cybersecurity Education and Research at UH's Maui College. He said the prolonged outage of TheBus could be a sign of a ransomware attack.

In December 2021, a ransomware attack shut down Oahu Transit Services' computer systems. At the time, law enforcement sources reported that the hackers had been in its system for at least two weeks.

Also in 2021, the Honolulu Water Board shut down its time and monitoring system after that system, Kronos, reported a cyberattack.

"The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, which governs Hawaii and Region 9, has specifically stated that China or the People's Liberation Army has targeted Hawaii and other states for our critical infrastructure," Bhattacharya said.

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In today’s digital age, protection against ransomware is more critical than ever. Ransomware, as in the case of TheBus, is a type of malware designed to block access to a computer system until a ransom is paid. To protect against such threats, it is essential to implement a multi-layered security strategy. This includes regularly updating software to patch vulnerabilities, using reliable antivirus and firewall programs that block unauthorized access. In addition, user education is crucial. Employees should be trained to recognize phishing and suspicious links that could lead to ransomware attacks. Regular backups are also crucial so that, in the event of an attack, data can be restored without paying the ransom.

Source: bleepingcomputer