Transit System in Washington State Hit by LockBit Ransomware Group

Pierce Transit, a public transit system in Washington state, was hit by a ransomware attack that affected several systems but, ultimately didn’t halt services to consumers.

Hitting a transit system is not all that unusual for hackers, as disruption of such a service can prove significant. Stopping or slowing down public transit by compromising the infrastructure is a common goal, but companies rarely give in to demands, and Pierce Transit resisted paying the ransom.

As is customary by now, a ransomware attack is not only about locking up computers and demanding ransom. In the last few years, most ransomware attacks have been accompanied by data theft, which also happened in the Pierce Transit security incident.

“Third party forensic experts were engaged to conduct a thorough investigation into the nature and scope of the incident, and law enforcement has been notified. Importantly, our transit operations and rider safety were not impacted as a result of this incident,” a Pierce Transit spokesperson told The Record.

From what the company has revealed so far, the transit system was not affected by the security incident, and the organization took measures to ensure that customers were not affected. The Record report also showed that the LockBit ransomware group was behind the attack, with the hackers themselves advertising the stolen data.

“As a result of a successful attack of this company, we have a huge portion of the confidential date in our hands. Postal correspondence, NDA agreements, personal data of customers, contracts and much more,” reads the note posted by LockBit, according to The Record.

The deadline came and went, the company paid no ransom, and it restored most of the affected systems. The next step is to inform the people affected by the data breach.