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JFK taxi hack overview:
- Who: Two New York men were arrested and charged with working with Russian hackers to get into the John F. Kennedy International Airport taxi dispatch system.
- Why: The men allegedly set up a system where they could choose which taxi went to the front of the passenger queue.
- Where: The arrests were made in New York.
Two New York men have been arrested and charged with working with Russian hackers to get into the John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) taxi dispatch system in order to prioritize certain taxis in the queue, for a $10 fee.
The men, Daniel Abayev and Peter Leyman, were arrested Dec. 20.
In an indictment filed in New York federal court, the men are charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit computer intrusions.
According to the indictment, Abayev and Leyman concocted a scheme to hack the taxi dispatch system at JFK, including bribing someone to insert a flash drive containing malware into computers linked to the dispatch system.
While executing their plan, the men allegedly sent incriminating texts to one another including the message, “I know that the Pentagon is being hacked… So, why can’t we hack the taxi industry?”
Men accused of sending more than $100K to Russian hackers
For various periods between November 2019 and November 2020, the men gained access to the dispatch system, the indictment alleges. During this time, they used their access to move certain taxis to the front of the dispatch line, “thereby allowing the drivers of those specific taxis to skip other taxi drivers who had arrived at the holding lot earlier.”
The hackers charged individual taxi drivers $10 each time they were advanced to the front of the line, the indictment alleges. They were paid in cash or via mobile payment, and some taxi drivers could allegedly skip the fee if they recruited other drivers.
The whole scheme was run through a group text, where taxi drivers would allegedly send their medallion numbers.
In November 2019, Abayev allegedly sent Leyman a spreadsheet showing they’d charged taxi drivers for an average of 320 trips over a three-day period and later another spreadsheet showing they’d charged for 2,463 trips in a week, the indictment says.
Abayev and Leyman sent more than $100,000 in proceeds from the alleged scheme to their Russian co-conspirators, the indictment reads, sometimes labeling the payments as “payment for software development” or “payment for services rendered.”
Abayev and Leyman made their initial court appearances Dec. 20 and were each released on a $100,000 bond.
Transportation can sometimes be a challenge for consumers even after they arrive at an airport.
In an effort to help alleviate these challenges, the U.S. Department of Transportation in September unveiled a new customer service dashboard aimed at providing travelers with easy access to services provided by airlines in the event of a controllable flight cancellation or delay.
What do you think of the allegations in this JFK taxi dispatch case? Let us know in the comments!
The government is represented by Kevin Bowmar Mead of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The JFK taxi case is United States of America v. Daniel Abayev, et al., Form No. USA-33s-274 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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