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Experts: Transit website an easy target for ‘Anonymous’

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Computer security experts say the San Francisco transit agency website attacked by hackers was an easy target.

On Sunday, a group calling itself Anonymous broke into a marketing website maintained by the Bay Area Transit Agency and posted the personal information of more than 2,000 people who signed up on myBART.org.

Josh Shaul, chief technology officer of Application Security Inc., said the hackers exploited a vulnerability in the site’s security. Shaul characterized the attack as “low tech” and said the hack could have been accomplished by downloading free software available online.

A transit agency spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a query. The group hacked the website after BART shut off wireless access in its San Francisco stations Thursday night to disrupt a planned demonstration.

Associated Press writers Terry Tang and Bob Seavey in Phoenix also contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press