According to the Railway Statistics 2019 Report by the International Union of Railways, more than 20 Million people travel by trains in the United States every year.
That’s a whopping number considering how much information is in the database for the hackers to attack railway systems.
Recent activities suggest that major railways across US and Europe are being hit by cyber attacks. Stadler and other major railways companies are a target in May 2020. Both customer and employee information was compromised.
Railways at risk of cyber attacks
Major railways across the US, Europe, and Asia have been hit with cyber attacks in recent times.
Earlier this year in March, C3UK, Network and service provider for railways disclosed that 146 million records including personal information including contact details and date of birth was exposed online.
The compromised information also included details of approximately 10,000 people who used public wifi at major railway stations in the United Kingdom.
Additional threats
New technologies, particularly the one’s from the third party vendors, bring more vulnerabilities primarily because all major railway networks use internet-connected systems to manage and monitor the physical machinery of their operations.
Ways to stay safe
Avoid public Wi-Fi as much as possible. If you still need to connect to public Wi-Fi, be mindful of disconnecting from the network once you complete your tasks.
Also, we suggest you avoid accessing your bank accounts and any personal accounts on public Wi-Fi.
Make sure your device is equipped with the necessary and trusted anti-virus software, anti-spyware and firewall to protect your devices from getting hacked.
Always remember, cyber criminals may have access to the public Wi-Fi networks that may make your personal information vulnerable.
