Article content

A parking garage in the TD Place arena complex at Lansdowne Park was the victim of a hacking attack that left its automated system disabled, allowing visitors to take advantage of some unofficial free parking.

Drivers were greeted by raised barriers at the mouth of the Lansdowne parking garage last Tuesday, alongside a note from the lot’s parking management organization, Precise ParkLink, which advised visitors that pay stations were not working.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Parking was temporarily free after Lansdowne Park lot hit by ransom-seeking malware Back to video

The lot is used by the nearby Whole Foods, Bank of Montreal and Milestones, among others.

According to security analyst David Manouchehri, who tweeted photos of the barriers and signs after he entered the lot, the parking meters were infected with a type of ransomware — a malicious form of software that takes over the victim’s computer, usually demanding some kind of payment — called Dharma.

Manouchehri said in an email to this newspaper that this type of ransomware takes advantage of weak passwords and a lack of effective firewalls.