Krakow's public transport was attacked by hackers this week. According to the president of the Municipal Communication Company, on the night of December 3-4 there were also “actions that could be called sabotage in the field of energy infrastructure.”
We informed on tvn24.pl that the Krakow carrier is struggling with the effects of a hacker attackwhich caused problems with the functioning of, among others, public transport ticket sales systems, carrier's website and other IT systems. On Friday evening, the president of MPK in Krakow, Rafał Świerczyński, said that there had also been an act of sabotage against the energy infrastructure. He noted that any damage had been prevented.
– The hacker attack began at 7 a.m. on December 3. On the night of December 3-4, certain actions took place that today I could call sabotage in the field of energy infrastructure. We managed to identify it all very nicely, prevent any damage and, of course, forward it to the appropriate services that took action – said Świerczyński.
Hacker group “from the east”
According to the president of MPK, there are many indications that the attack began with sending viral e-mails to the company's employees. In his opinion, it is almost certain that the attack was intended to cause communication paralysis. – The method, mode and preparation for this attack concerned the internal IT infrastructure – he emphasized. He added that, according to MPK information, a hacker group from “the eastern side” was behind the attack.
Due to the scale and nature of this attack, Krakow's MPK reported the matter to the police and the relevant state services dealing with cybersecurity. At the same time, the carrier sent a notification to the President of the Personal Data Protection Office about the potential theft of personal data of MPK employees and passengers.
Fighting the effects of the attack
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitization Krzysztof Gawkowski appealed to all administrators to check the software and maintain digital hygiene. Gawkowski also said that experts from the Scientific and Academic Computer Network (NASK) provide support to MPK. NASK's activities are intended to help the unit return to functioning as quickly as possible. Experts including: they secure attack information for analysis to determine the entry vector.
In response to problems with purchasing tickets online on Saturday at Passenger Service Points will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. At the point, each resident can obtain the resident status on a plastic card, on which they will then be able to buy a resident network ticket for PLN 90. After the system is repaired, you will be able to buy another ticket in the application again
How to buy a ticket during a breakdown?
According to the carrier, work is currently underway to launch IT systems in stages, taking into account the highest level of security. In this respect, the company cooperates with specialized companies, IT service providers and units of the Krakow City Hall.
Currently, season tickets can be purchased in the iMKA mobile application and in machines installed in vehicles and in KKM ticket machines – in these devices you can pay by payment card and cash. If you wish to purchase tickets for validation, you can also do so in mobile applications (mPay, iMKA, moBiLET, SkyCash, jakdojade or zbiletem.pl (common 70-minute tickets in the applications: iMKA and mPay). Ticket inspectors during inspections in trams and buses respect all payment confirmations, including e-mail ones.
Currently, the only possible and fastest form of contact with MPK is the hotline – 12 19 150. Passengers can also submit their comments on our social networking sites on Facebook and the X portal.
PAP, TVP3 Kraków, tvn24.pl
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