from Russia
WORLDWIDE TAXI FOCUS from USA
HACKERS GRIDLOCK MOSCOW AND SEND 100s OF CABS TO FAKE PICK UP
Hackers targeted a Russian taxi app on 1 September, sending hundreds of drivers to the same Moscow address causing huge traffic jams in the city centre. The Daily Mail reports that Yandex Taxi, a Russian app similar to Uber, was reported to have been targeted. The company later confirmed the incident in a statement. “Yandex Taxi encountered an attempt by attackers to disrupt the service - several dozen drivers received bulk orders to the Fili region,” the company said in a statement to
Forbes.ru. As a result of the hack, taxis flooded to Moscow’s Kutuzovsky Prospekt - a major road that leads into the centre of the Russian capital, with its eight to ten lanes it is rarely jammed. The company said its security department ‘immediately stopped attempts to artificially’ order the taxis but this was not enough to stop the gridlock. “Drivers still spent about 40 minutes in traffic jams due to fake orders. The issue of compensation will be resolved in the near future,” the company said. It noted that it had already addressed the vulnerability that enabled the hack. Footage from Moscow showed the gridlock. Video from inside one of the cabs showed dozens of yellow cars barely moving - all pointing in the same direction. No one has taken responsibility for the hack, but it comes as Vladimir Putin’s forces continue their invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. In addition to the fighting on the ground, each side has also engaged in cyber warfare - carried out by the respective states or vigilantes. In the days leading up to the war, Mykhailo Fedorov - Ukraine’s digital minister and President Zelensky’s right hand man on tech - called on volunteers to create an ‘IT Army’ of hackers to help in his country’s struggle against Russia.
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NYC ANNOUNCES DEBT RELIEF PLAN FOR STRUGGLING TAXI DRIVERS
NYC taxi drivers who owe hundreds of thousands of dollars on loans they took out to operate yellow cabs will see their burdens reduced substantially under a debt relief programme announced on 30 August. The Independent reports that under the programme announced by city officials, the New York City Taxi Workers Alliance
and taxi medallion lender
Marblegate Asset Management, loans for 3,000 drivers who owe an average of $550,000 will be restructured to a maximum of $200,000. Of that, $30,000 will be covered by a grant and the balance will be secured by a city-backed guarantee, the officials said. The city-backed guarantee means that drivers won't risk losing their homes if they default, said Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the Taxi Workers Alliance, a drivers' union. “It's lifesaving and historic,” she said. Many taxi drivers who borrowed to buy the medallions required to operate a yellow cab landed in deep debt when the value of a medallion plunged from more than $1 million in 2014 to $200,000 a few years later. Taxi industry representatives blamed predatory lending practices as well as ride-hailing services such as Uber for the crisis.
WOMAN, 78, DRAGGED OUT OF TAXI BY NYC CABBIE WHO ROBBED HER
Police are hunt- ing for a New York taxi driver who dragged an elderly pas- senger out of his car before speeding away in a deplorable attack. The Daily Mail reports that the 78-year-old woman had ordered the Access-A-Ride cab to take her to physical therapy, but became concerned when the driver continued past the destination and refused to
OCTOBER 2022 PHTM
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