A compromised dispatch system helped move taxis to the front of the queue

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Two men have been accused of participating in a big-money scheme using a compromised dispatch system at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to allow paying taxis to move to the front of the line.

Daniel Abayev and Peter Leyman, both 48, of Queens, New York, allegedly participated in a scheme that compromised the electronic dispatch system, federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York have said. Taxi drivers are required to wait in a holding park. The computerized dispatch system is designed to ensure that drivers are assigned in the order in which they arrive.

The defendants, prosecutors said, conspired with Russian nationals to compromise the dispatch system and cause it to move specific taxis to the front of the queue. Attendees then announced a service allowing drivers to skip the lines in exchange for $10 each time.

Prosecutors said the operation ran on and off from 2019 to 2021. During that time, the program attracted up to 1,000 expedited taxi rides per day. To coordinate, the men used large chat groups to communicate with taxi drivers. When the service was available, they sent a message saying: “Shop open”. Abayev also sent messages advising paying drivers how to avoid detection by authorities.

As of 2019. Abayev and Leyman reportedly experimented with different ways to access the dispatch system. The methods included bribing someone to insert a USB drive containing malware into dispatch computers, gaining unauthorized access to the system via Wi-Fi, and stealing tablets connected to the system.

"The members of the hacking program also sent each other messages in which they explicitly discussed their intention to hack into the dispatch system," prosecutors wrote in a statement. "For example, on or about November 10, 2019, Abayev sent the following to one of the Russian hackers in Russian: 'I know the Pentagon is being hacked [.] So can't we hack the taxi industry [?] '”

The two men have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit computer intrusions. If found guilty, they face a maximum of 10 years in federal prison. An indictment filed in federal court is here.

Technology Dec 23, 2022 0 30 Add to Reading List

A compromised dispatch system helped move taxis to the front of the queue

Two men have been accused of participating in a big-money scheme using a compromised dispatch system at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to allow paying taxis to move to the front of the line.

Daniel Abayev and Peter Leyman, both 48, of Queens, New York, allegedly participated in a scheme that compromised the electronic dispatch system, federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York have said. Taxi drivers are required to wait in a holding park. The computerized dispatch system is designed to ensure that drivers are assigned in the order in which they arrive.

The defendants, prosecutors said, conspired with Russian nationals to compromise the dispatch system and cause it to move specific taxis to the front of the queue. Attendees then announced a service allowing drivers to skip the lines in exchange for $10 each time.

Prosecutors said the operation ran on and off from 2019 to 2021. During that time, the program attracted up to 1,000 expedited taxi rides per day. To coordinate, the men used large chat groups to communicate with taxi drivers. When the service was available, they sent a message saying: “Shop open”. Abayev also sent messages advising paying drivers how to avoid detection by authorities.

As of 2019. Abayev and Leyman reportedly experimented with different ways to access the dispatch system. The methods included bribing someone to insert a USB drive containing malware into dispatch computers, gaining unauthorized access to the system via Wi-Fi, and stealing tablets connected to the system.

"The members of the hacking program also sent each other messages in which they explicitly discussed their intention to hack into the dispatch system," prosecutors wrote in a statement. "For example, on or about November 10, 2019, Abayev sent the following to one of the Russian hackers in Russian: 'I know the Pentagon is being hacked [.] So can't we hack the taxi industry [?] '”

The two men have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit computer intrusions. If found guilty, they face a maximum of 10 years in federal prison. An indictment filed in federal court is here.