Authorities probe cyber Attack displaying anti-Muslim messages on Wi-Fi at 19 railway stations; no passenger data breached.
LONDON — The U.K. government is starting an investigation after many people reported seeing hate messages against Muslims while trying to connect to free Wi-Fi at the biggest train stations in the country.
On Wednesday night, travelers at 19 stations, including big ones like Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and a bunch of terminals in London, saw a page that said, “We love you, Europe,” but then it started showing Islamophobic messages about different terror attacks.
Because of this, Network Rail, the company that runs the stations, quickly turned off the Wi-Fi, saying they hadn’t seen any personal information stolen.
“The British Transport Police are looking into it,” Network Rail said. “This service is run by another company, which has stopped it while they figure out what happened.”
Police Are Probing a Cyberattack on Wi-Fi Networks at UK Train Stations https://t.co/pN13GCLKQG
— SecurityWeek (@SecurityWeek) September 26, 2024
The police have confirmed they’re checking out reports of Islamophobic messages popping up on Network Rail Wi-Fi.
Telent, the company that runs the Wi-Fi system, said the hate messages came from someone who shouldn’t have had access, and they’re now looking into it as a crime.
This situation comes after a big cyberattack on Transport for London (TfL) in early September, which messed up services and let hackers see personal info like names and bank details.
The National Crime Agency is still digging into that attack, which led to the arrest of a 17-year-old who’s been let go without any charges.
Even weeks after that attack, the problems are still there, making it hard for TfL to offer important online services like refunds and updates on trains and it’s making people worry about how safe our public transport is against cyber threats.
