BART Website Hacked By Online Group Anonymous

It has been a rough past seven days for Bay Area Rapid Transit officials.

First, the entire system was shutdown for over two hours last Monday because of a problem with an electrical problem. Then, the system was heavily criticized for shutting down cell phone service at several San Francisco stations in anticipation of a protest at the Civic Center BART station on Thursday. And on Sunday, the online hacking group Anonymous, which has breached several government and business websites in the past, infiltrated the myBART portion of the transit agency’s website.

Included in the breach was the release of more than 2,000 myBART user’s personal information, from phone numbers and addresses, to email and password information.

Anonymous had warned of “website takeover” the night before and although they never shutdown the site, they did post their logo on the myBART site along with the California Office of Traffic Safety’s California Avoid website.

Anonymous was upset over the cell phone shutdown, saying BART had taken away the right to organize and to let people speak freely in a peaceful manner. The demonstrators were planning to gather to protest the fatal shooting of 45-year-old Charles Hill by BART police officers at the Civic Center station in early July.

On Sunday, BART officials profusely apologized for the breach of information and said they were trying to contact all those on the list who might have had their personal information displayed on the Internet.

Anonymous is also planning a peaceful protest at the Civic Center BART station on Monday night at 5 p.m.

It's simple. Keith Mizuguchi loves to write and write and write some more. After taking a hiatus from the journalism business, he has rekindled his passion for writing over the last two years, holding a job as both a web and on-air writer for San Francisco news radio station KCBS. While he enjoys the news business, his true passions are twofold: sports and food. Bay Area born and raised, he lives in San Jose, commutes to SF and loves every minute of it. You can follow his food adventures on Twitter @foodie_keith.