WA transportation services back online following cyberattack

Following three days of outages, many of the Washington State Department of Transportation public web services are restored, the agency reported Friday.

A cyberattack hit the department starting Tuesday, cutting online access to statewide traffic cameras, ferry trackers and oversized freight permitting.

As of Friday morning, ferry schedules, some ferry tracking on the mobile app, mountain pass conditions, the agency’s real-time travel map, traffic cameras, and online commercial vehicle permits had been restored, according to the department.

More work, including to fully restore the ferry boat tracker, will be done over the weekend, spokesperson Barbara LaBoe wrote in an email. Services may be spotty as they first come back online the department cautioned.

The department was still investigating the cyberattack and could not say Friday what caused it.

The state agency that oversees cybersecurity, known as WaTech, said the transportation department was the agency affected by the cyberattack and that there was no immediate indication that data or personal information was breached.

Both WaTech and the transportation department declined to offer more specifics on the incident, citing the ongoing investigation.