Last week, San Francisco cell phone service was disrupted to prevent a rally from turning violent last Thursday. Several people had planned a rally at that time to draw attention to criticism surrounding several shootings involving the Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART, police officers. Last month’s shooting of Charles Hill was the latest of these. Charles Hill was 45 years old.
In response to the decision to cut of cell phone service, a well-known hacker group called Anonymous posted on its Twitter page and shared a news release that stated that they were planning to take down BART’s webpage between 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM Pacific Time on Sunday. Sure enough, on Sunday afternoon, one of the links on the BART website had been hacked, showing instead a page with the Anonymous logo. Anonymous also touted that they were able to hack BART’s internal network and post an alleged user database which contained phone numbers and email addresses of hundreds of BART patrons.
In a video posted online, one of the hackers – disguised by voice changing software and never seen in the video – said, "By [cutting off cell phone service], you have not only threatened your citizens’ safety, you have also performed an act of censorship. By doing this, you have angered Anonymous."
BART issued a statement Sunday, saying they were aware of the attack and doing everything they could to defend against it. They also promised to continue to look out for passengers’ safety and prompt and efficient travel.
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