Transport for London (TfL) says that each one workers (roughly 30,000 staff) should attend in-person appointments to confirm their identities and reset passwords following a cybersecurity incident disclosed virtually two weeks in the past.
“Resetting 30,000 colleague passwords in person will take some time and we will be prioritising the allocation of appointments centrally,” TfL mentioned on the TfL worker hub.
“This means everyone will be required to attend an appointment at a specified TfL location to reset their password and be verified in-person for access to TfL applications and data,” it added.
The identical method was taken by DICK’S Sporting Items’ IT workers after an August cyberattack, manually validating staff’ identities on digicam earlier than permitting them to regain entry to inside techniques.
The London public transportation company first knowledgeable the general public on September 2 concerning the cybersecurity breach, assuring clients that there was no proof of compromised information.
Though the assault didn’t have an effect on London’s transportation providers, it disrupted inside techniques, on-line providers, and the company’s skill to course of refunds. As of final Friday, TfL workers continued to face outages and system disruptions, impacting their skill to answer buyer requests and challenge refunds for contactless journeys.
This week, an replace on TfL’s incident standing web page revealed that buyer information, together with names, contact particulars, and addresses, had been compromised through the assault.
“Some customers may ask questions about the security of our network and their data. First and foremost, we must reassure that our network is safe,” the transport company added on the TfL worker hub. “Secondly, we’re contacting customers directly about steps being taken regarding their data.”
TfL additionally confirmed that attackers accessed worker and buyer listing information, together with e-mail addresses, job titles, and worker numbers. Nevertheless, it mentioned there was no proof that different delicate information, similar to banking particulars, dates of beginning, or residence addresses, had been compromised.
Suspect arrested by UK’s Nationwide Crime Company
On Thursday, the UK’s Nationwide Crime Company arrested a 17-year-old Walsall teenager suspected of being linked to the cyberattack on the town’s public transportation company. {The teenager} was later launched on bail after being questioned by NCA officers.
The NCA additionally arrested a 17-year-old male from Walsall in July for a potential hyperlink to the MGM Resorts ransomware assault. This assault was attributed to the Scattered Spider hacking collective, which acted as an affiliate of the BlackCat ransomware gang.
BleepingComputer requested the NCA if the identical particular person was arrested once more in September however has not but obtained a response.
TfL serves greater than 8.4 million Londoners by way of its floor, underground, and Crossrail (collectively managed with the UK’s Transport Division) transport techniques.
In Could 2023, the company skilled one other information breach when the Clop ransomware gang stole information belonging to roughly 13,000 clients from certainly one of its suppliers’ MOVEit managed file switch (MFT) servers.
