NEWS DESK

London's Underground system has been plagued with problems in the last few day due to a problem with the "Oyster card" system used by passengers to travel on the network, that may have been caused by hackers.

BBC London has reported that "Up to 40,000 cards are expected to have stopped working after Saturday's fault."
"TfL said the majority of passengers would not be affected but people would be let through the barriers without paying if long queues started to form."

The London Daily News reported on 23/6/08 that the Oyster card can be cracked, using a card reading unit at a station, capturing the 'cryptographic key' that protects a user’s security.That key is uploaded to a computer. The hackers then brush past a card user wirelessly reading the cards details which are then transferred to the computer. Then using a card reader and blank 'Oysters' the information can be cloned repeatedly.

Transport for London have dismissed the claims that a hacker may have been to blame by saying:

"The vast majority of passengers have travelled without any disruption this morning and London Underground staff have minimised the delay to passengers with cards that are not working.

"Around 1% of the 6 million regular Oyster card users required replacement cards after the incident on Saturday morning. We are replacing affected cards and there are now less than 35,000 cards that need to be replaced. If this has not been practical during the morning, London Underground staff, and London bus drivers, have allowed these passengers to travel.

"Ticket offices are well stocked and we advise those passengers who have not yet replaced their cards to go to their nearest LU ticket office through-out today.”