San Francisco BART investigates Vice Society’s data breach claims

The Vice Society ransomware gang claimed to have attacked the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART) on the group’s leak site on Friday, prompting the fifth-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the United States to launch an investigation into an alleged ransomware attack.

This week, Vice Society boasted that it had compromised the transportation system in San Francisco and listed BART as one of its most recent victims.

On January 6, Brett Callow, a threat analyst with Emsisoft, alerted the company to the Vice Society BART boast. But according to Alicia Trost, a spokesperson for BART, there haven’t been any service interruptions due to any cyberattack, and an investigation is still ongoing.

According to Alicia Trost, they are looking into the data that the group stole and posted online. She added that there had been no impact on internal business systems or BART services. BART, however, takes all necessary safety measures to respond, just like other governmental organizations.

The alleged attack on BART by Vice Society follows a string of cyberattacks against American railways, including one in April 2021 that affected the Santa Clarita Valley Transportation Authority and compromised the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City.

Notably, the Vice Society ransomware gang has made headlines worldwide with its attacks on universities and K–12 institutions, including the second-largest public school district in the United States and several in the United Kingdom.