UPDATE 2/13/24: Hijacking the taxi dispatch system at John F. Kennedy International Airport to help drivers skip the line has landed two men with several years behind bars.
Daniel Abayev was sentenced to four years in prison, while Peter Leyman will serve two years after both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit computer intrusion. Both will also get three years of supervised release and must pay more than $161,000 in forfeiture and $3.45 million in restitution. They worked with two Russian nationals, Aleksandr Derebenetc and Kirill Shipulin, who remain at large, according to US officials.
Abayev and Leyman “allegedly assisted by Russian hackers, wrought havoc on JFK’s electronic taxi dispatch system, impacting fair order and creating chaos for honest taxi professionals,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in statement. “Their actions enabled up to 1,000 fraudulent taxi trips daily, underscoring the serious threat cyber hacking poses to critical infrastructure. Through our collaborative efforts with law enforcement partners, their scheme was dismantled, and the defendants have been rightfully sentenced.”
Original Story 12/22/22:It turns out hacking the taxi dispatch system at a New York City airport can lead to major profits.
Federal investigators have arrested two suspects for hijacking the taxi dispatch system at John F. Kennedy International Airport with the help of malware and some Russian hackers. Allegedly, the suspects were helping taxi drivers skip to the front of the line to pick up passengers at the airport. In return, they received a $10 fee.
At JFK Airport, taxi drivers normally have to wait in a holding lot before the dispatch system calls them to pick up a passenger. It’s a first-come, first-served system that can result in hour-long waits for the drivers.
In response, the suspects, New York City residents Daniel Abayev and Peter Leyman, came up with a scheme to hijack the taxi dispatch system, giving them control over which taxis could be at the front of the line first.
The two secretly conducted their scheme from at least September 2019 to September 2021, according to the US Justice Department. In addition, the suspects enlisted hackers based in Russia to help them hijack the airport’s taxi dispatch system. “I know that the Pentagon is being hacked…so, can’t we hack the taxi industry[?]” Abayev wrote in a message to one of the Russian hackers.
To pull off the hijacking, the suspects resorted to bribing someone to insert a USB drive carrying malware into the computers connected to the dispatch system. They also obtained access through a Wi-Fi connection and by stealing tablets connected to the dispatch system.
The pair then began marketing the service to interested taxi drivers through word-of-mouth and via group chats. “Over the course of the scheme, they enabled as many as 1,000 fraudulently expedited taxi trips a day,” the Justice Department added.
It’s unclear how much Abayev and Leyman made from their scheme. But at one point, they sent more than $100,000 to their Russian hackers as payment for their services, according to the unsealed indictment.
How the two were caught was also left unsaid. But the efforts to promote the scheme to taxi drivers likely brought scrutiny from police. In the announcement of the arrests, US Attorney Damien Williams noted: “For years, the defendants’ hacking kept honest cab drivers from being able to pick up fares at JFK in the order in which they arrived.”
Abayev and Leyman have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. They now face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Click Here For The Original Source.
————————————————————————————-