A hacker attacked and crippled the Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) system for a ransom of 1 Bitcoin, or about 8,000 $ at the current market value. The attack has cleared important programs that are needed to plan and distribute bus routes, as well as sending employees for the service.
In a strange move, the hacker demanded a single Bitcoin to stop the attacks and allow SacRT's IT team to bring the system back online. According to a message sent by the hackers:
"Hello, I will always attack your site, we are hackers, we can do anything, pay us now to stop attacking."
The hack increased awareness and SacRT withdrew all its credit card payment options until total security could be achieved. It may take several days to bring the system back online to complete the feature.
The hack and the ransom are strange to the extent that the demands are so small. Other hacks this year include significant amounts. HBO, Wipro and Equifax have all ransomed from $ 250,000 to over $ 75 million. It seems that the SacRT hacker can be bought for a relatively small sum, but nevertheless causing a lot of disruption.