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Rail company taken offline due to suspected ransomware attack

As reported in the NCSC Weekly Threat Report last week, rail company Northern, who operate services in the East Midlands, are experiencing a huge problem with their self-service ticket machines after they were taken offline due to a suspected ransomware attack last week (July 20).



The incident is subject to an ongoing investigation by Northern and its supplier, Flowbird Transport Intelligence, which has said that customer and payment data has not been compromised.



The rail company installed 621 new Ticket Vending Machines in May, spanning its entire network as part of a comprehensive modernisation scheme which cost £17m. The modern touch-screen machines can be found at around 420 stations, but all of them were taken offline swiftly after consultation with Flowbird.


The cyber-attack caused an outage to the servers that operate the ticket machines.


Northern Rail was quoted by the BBC as saying: “This is the subject of an ongoing investigation with our supplier, but indications are that the ticket machine service has been subject to a ransomware cyber attack.”


Ransomware is a prominent global cyber threat and the NCSC works to build resilience in the UK.


Organisations should take steps to mitigate the risk of falling victim to a ransomware attack, and the NCSC also has published actionable guidance to help them do so:

 

Reporting Cyber Crime


The East Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre provides advice and guidance to protect and prevent businesses from falling victim to cyber crime. However, if you have become a victim of cyber crime, you need to know what to do next, we have all the information you need on how to report it.


 

The contents of blog posts on this website are provided for general information only and are not intended to replace specific professional advice relevant to your situation. The intention of East Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre (EMCRC) is to encourage cyber resilience by raising issues and disseminating information on the experiences and initiatives of others. Articles on the website cannot by their nature be comprehensive and may not reflect most recent legislation, practice, or application to your circumstances. EMCRC provides affordable services and Trusted Partners if you need specific support. For specific questions please contact us by email.

 

EMCRC does not accept any responsibility for any loss which may arise from reliance on information or materials published on this blog. EMCRC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites that link to this site or which are linked from it.

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