Hackers Allegedly From China Breach New York MTA’s System—Are Trains and Passengers Affected?

Hackers were able to breach New York’s MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) system. Security experts claimed that these online attackers are possible linked to the Chinese government.

But, before you make a conclusion, you need to remember the Chinese government’s involvement is still speculation. On the other hand, the involved researchers and other security analysts confirmed that the massive breach took place last April.

These hackers had more power over the MTA than the Mayor of New York City.

Time for municipal control so we can finally get some accountability, reliability, and security for the city’s transit system. https://t.co/yChi5yXFIw

— Evan Roth Smith (@TheRealERS) June 2, 2021

They added that the hackers were able to expose vulnerabilities in a vast transportation network, which carries millions of people every day. Although the latest hack seems to be serious since MTA manages New York’s trains and passengers, security experts confirmed that it did not affect people using MTA regularly.

Did the Hackers Make a Serious Breach?

According to The New York Times’ latest report, the involved cybercriminals and other malicious actors were not able to create serious damage to the system of MTA. On the other hand, the safety of the train cars and riders was not put at risk.

Also Read: Ransomware Group Targets Apple Supplier Quanta Demanding $50M in Exchange of Stolen Data

However, the agency discovered that the attack continued to penetrate the agency’s computer systems through a backdoor. MTA officials explained that a forensic analysis of the attack has not revealed evidence of either and that hackers did not compromise customers’ personal information.

Aside from this, New York’s transportation agency added that there were also attacks that targeted other state agencies and law enforcement sectors. However, the hackers did not publish the acquired data to the public.

One of our major gas pipelines in the US was attacked by ransomware a couple weeks ago. Now we have part of our meat supply under a cyberattack and not only that but I just heard recently on the news the MTA Transit system in New York was attacked by some hackers. Where is Joe?

— Brandon Scott Partin (@MrPar10) June 2, 2021

This only shows that hackers are currently becoming more efficient when it comes to breaching government agencies and other company systems. Aside from the new MTA hack, Apple products also suffered from a bug used to spread malware.

Various reliable sources also confirmed that WhatsApp and other popular applications are also at risk of unsuspected massive hacks.

Other Possible Massive Hacks

On the other hand, The Hacker News reported that cybercriminals and other online attackers are currently exploiting Zero-Day in the WordPress plugin. 

This system is currently installed on more than 17,000 sites. Since thousands of websites use this WordPress plugin, the Zero-Day exploitation could lead to a massive hack, which could affect thousands of users. 

“Unfortunately, while the plugin had some checks in place to prevent malicious files from being uploaded, these checks were insufficient and could easily be bypassed, allowing attackers to upload executable PHP files to any site with the plugin installed,” said WordPress. 

For more news updates about MTA’s massive hack and other security breaches, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.  

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Written by: Griffin Davis

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