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Texas Bicycle Sharing Company Breached by Malware

A Fort Worth bicycle sharing service, BCycle, found the malware in April and launched an investigation, according to a company letter. The stolen information may have included names, credit card numbers and addresses.

a digital lock broken open
Shutterstock/Alexander Softog
(TNS) — The corporation that operates Fort Worth’s bicycle sharing service was hacked, and some users’ credit card information may have been stolen, the company said in a letter to customers.

BCycle operates bike shares across the country, including in Fort Worth. Some users received a letter in the past week informing them that BCycle found malware on its website that allowed a hacker to see personal information between Jan. 24 and April 26.

The hack only impacts those who signed up for a membership pass through the website, said Jennifer Grissom, executive director of Fort Worth Bike Sharing.

BCycle found the malware in April and launched an investigation, according to the company’s letter. On June 2, the company identified which users may have been impacted and sent a letter to them on June 26. The hacked information may have included users’ names, credit card numbers and addresses.

Grissom said the hack impacts about 12% of BCycle’s nationwide users.

“It was a very small portion of people who bought passes through the website,” she said.

In the letter, BCycle said the company was not aware of any unauthorized transactions that resulted from the hack. But at least one person reported to the Star-Telegram that their credit card was hacked and someone made unauthorized purchases in May and June.

BCycle will cover the cost of one year of identity theft protection for affected customers, according to the letter.

In another breach, Fort Worth’s public transit agency Trinity Metro was hacked by a ransomware group, cybersecurity experts said Thursday. Trinity Metro said it cannot comment on cybersecurity issues. Grissom said she was not aware that Trinity Metro had been hacked, and that hack did not involve Fort Worth Bike Sharing, which is separate from Trinity Metro.

©2020 the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.