Go-Ahead Group, a UK-based transport operator, has announced that it is dealing with a cyber-attack after “unauthorised activity” was detected on September 5.
This activity is reportedly impacting its back office systems, including bus services and payroll rosters.
Go-Ahead’s bus network covers parts of Brighton and Hove, East Yorkshire, London, Oxford, Greater Manchester and more.
The company also operates train services, though rail journeys remain unaffected by the activity.
A company statement released on Tuesday said: “Upon becoming aware of the incident, Go-Ahead immediately engaged external forensic specialists and has taken precautionary measures with its IT infrastructure whilst it continues to investigate the nature and extent of the incident and implement its incident response plans.
“Go-Ahead will continue to assess the potential impact of the incident but confirms that there is no impact on UK or International rail services which are operating normally.”
On the affected bus services, the statement said: “bus companies are operating a normal service today despite the cybersecurity incident. Although certain technology functions are unavailable, backup procedures have been put in place.”
While it is understood that bus and driver rosters were vulnerable to the hack, no exact information has been released on the affected areas or the number of systems targeted.
Go-Ahead has said it is cooperating with technology firm IBM to activate its backup systems as a safeguard for bus operations, as reported by the Guardian.
The operator has confirmed that it will continue to use social media to communicate key updates to customers and stakeholders.
