A Chinese ride-hailing service has become a victim of ransomware. Yidao Yongche said on Sunday that it was experiencing continuous attacks by hackers, leading to the shutdown of some of the company’s servers.
In a statement published on its WeChat account, Yidao Yongche said its core data had been encrypted and hackers behind the attacks demanded “large amounts of bitcoin” for ransom. Yidao Yongche’s servers were shut down as a result of the attacks and the company was trying to fix them, according to the statement.
“We strongly condemn this illegal act and have reported the case to the Beijing Cyber Police Center,” Yidao Yongche’s statement read. The company also said it would compensate its users once it settled the incident and called for patience while it handled the matter.
The alleged ransomware attack is the latest piece of bad news for an ailing ride-hailing platform, which was founded in 2010. Only five days ago, the company said it had technical problems with its system, which led to incorrect credit balances to be displayed in some users’ accounts. Yidao Yongche promised a solution within seven working days, but as yet has failed to resolve the issue.
The debt-saddled Beijing-based company has laid off about 80% of its staff. Its biggest shareholder was reportedly seeking to offload its entire stake at a 50% discount earlier this year.
In March, about 500 Yidao Yongche drivers protested outside the Beijing transport authority’s office because they were unable to withdraw remuneration from their Yidao Yongche accounts.
