Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The public transport operator De Lijn in Belgium suffered technical problems on December 20th, 2024, that stopped real-time information on buses and trams. Passengers across Belgium were affected during their morning commutes. It is suspected to be a Distributed Denial of Service attack. The other targeted company, Proximus also reported an increase in website traffic and is said to be a threat of a wider cyber security attack.
Technical issues at De Lijn, the public transport operator in Belgium, have caused technical issues in real-time passenger information on its buses and trams. The disruptions started early this morning and are believed to be the result of a cyberattack.
The passengers could not get important updates on its website, app, and stop signs, which was seriously causing inconvenience during the daily morning commutes. Even though the situation was in control by 8:30 AM, De Lijn marked it as a potentially harmful incident, which brought threat concerns about cybersecurity.
According to Frederik Wittock, De Lijn spokesperson, the technical problems caused great challenges both for the drivers and passengers.
“It started very early, and there were unpleasant consequences for the drivers and passengers, but around 8:30, the situation was under control,”
he confirmed.
The company thinks the problem was due to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. De Lijn had recently been included in a leaked list of targeted organisations and companies that were shared on Telegram. These attacks usually overburden servers with massive traffic, temporarily crippling services.
Another telecom firm, Proximus also on the list, reported that business activity on its website was gaining traffic.
“We are seeing increased traffic to our website. We are monitoring it closely and are ready to intervene if necessary,”
said Proximus spokesperson Fabrice Gansbeke amid mounting concern over the spread of the threat.
#Verstoring bus 460 in beide richtingen #Turnhout #Weelde Gekantelde vrachtwagen op N119 Momenteel geen bediening tussen Turnhout Markt en Weelde Stationstraat #DeLijn
— De Lijn (@delijn) December 20, 2024
De Lijn Services Disruption
Disruptions by De Lijn are not just cyberattacks. On October 17, 2024, a spontaneous drivers’ strike over new duty rosters caused a major delay to bus and school services, affecting passengers in the Vlaamse Rand area.
In October 2023, an assault on a driver led to another strike in Limburg, raising concerns over driver safety and further disrupting services. A national strike in April 2022, worsened by staffing shortages and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, also impacted tram and bus operations.
