Anonymous Hacks SF Rapid Transit-Related Sites
Hacker group Anonymous promised a cyberattack on the website of San Francisco Bay Area transit agency BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), starting at 12 noon PST on Sunday, Aug. 14, and they delivered, managing deface two related sites, as well leak user data from one of the sites.
Both site defacements are related to Operation Bart (#OpBART on Twitter), the organization said, on the OpBART Facebook page. MyBART.org saw a cache of user data leaked, while the other site, californiaavoid.org, which is maintained by the California Office of Traffic Safety, said defacement on that site consisted as a rotating set of images. Almost all were related to Anonymous and featured the Guy Fawkes mask the group uses as a calling card, while the last image showed the message "Free Topiary," referring to the purported LulzSec (another hacker group) second-in-command that was recently arrested.
Still to come is a scheduled late Monday afternoon (5 p.m. PST) protest at the Civic Center BART station in San Francisco. BART has already posted a warning about possible delays and service disruptions on that day. It would be unusual for Anonymous members themselves to appear at the protest; it's more likely that they hope that their "call to action" will bring local activists out.
In addition to Anonymous, organizations such as the EFF have protested BART's action, and local politicians have said they would take the issue to the FCC.
Both site defacements are related to Operation Bart (#OpBART on Twitter), the organization said, on the OpBART Facebook page. MyBART.org saw a cache of user data leaked, while the other site, californiaavoid.org, which is maintained by the California Office of Traffic Safety, said defacement on that site consisted as a rotating set of images. Almost all were related to Anonymous and featured the Guy Fawkes mask the group uses as a calling card, while the last image showed the message "Free Topiary," referring to the purported LulzSec (another hacker group) second-in-command that was recently arrested.
Still to come is a scheduled late Monday afternoon (5 p.m. PST) protest at the Civic Center BART station in San Francisco. BART has already posted a warning about possible delays and service disruptions on that day. It would be unusual for Anonymous members themselves to appear at the protest; it's more likely that they hope that their "call to action" will bring local activists out.
In addition to Anonymous, organizations such as the EFF have protested BART's action, and local politicians have said they would take the issue to the FCC.
