Montreal"s Public Transport Service Hit by Ransomware Attack

Société de transport de Montréal (STM) has suffered a ransomware attack that crippled most of its computer systems, the public transport agency disclosed earlier this week.

As of Monday afternoon, the STM website was inaccessible, and users were redirected to lastm.info, where they can check for updates on the cyberattack and customer service operations.

“Since the afternoon of October 19, the STM has been dealing with a ransomware computer virus that has caused a major failure affecting multiple platforms, including our website,” the notification read.

“We will update this page as the situation changes. Rest assured that our teams are working tirelessly to resolve the situation as quickly as possible so that you can keep riding with us.”

The STM said the attack had no impact on the bus and metro network, and transport operations continued as scheduled, except for the paratransit service, which uses an online registration system.

According to the latest updates, the ransomware attack only impacted STM’s online services and telephone lines. No signs of employee or customer data comprise have been observed.

“We have done everything in our power to protect our data,” STM added. “Initial analyses indicate that our customer and employee information has not been affected. We ensured data protection as soon as we were made aware of the situation. However, the investigation is not complete, and we will continue our analyses.”

The company has alerted local authorities and promised to provide additional details as soon as their online systems are restored.