Muslim Extremists Hacked Bus Schedule In Misguided Cyber Terror Plot
Transportation // Bristol, England
The self-dubbed "Arab Security Team,” which goes by the name Darkshadow, hijacked part of a British tourism website.
Visitors to TravelWest.com’s bus timetable were presented with a black screen displaying white Arabic and English lettering.
“It is believed the group could have confused the innocuous journey planner site for a more influential website promoting travelling around the Western world,” the Bristol Post reports.
The hackers also posted a link to their Facebook page which claims the group is based in the Tunisian capital, Tunis.
The Telegraph notes: “The group claimed to have successfully infiltrated webpages belonging to Philippine Airlines and the El Salvador government. But doubts were cast on the authenticity of those behind the hack after they misspelt the word Muslim on their homepage.”
TravelWest is jointly run by several councils including Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.
The West of England Partnership, which maintains the site, said it alerted its information technology department “as soon as it was flagged up,” the Telegraph reports. The site was back online and functioning within about a day.