Copenhagen Bike share system taken offline by hackers

A manual reboot of the entire fleet of Bycyklen bike share bikes, some 1,860 in total, has been required following what could be the first instance of hacking on a bike share scheme.

In what could prove a further headache to bike share operators, it appears that hackers managed to access and delete the firm’s entire database in what was described as a “primitive” hack. The firm suspects the invasion was undertaken by somebody with personal knowledge of the system.

“We apologize for the inconveniences this has caused to our users on this otherwise lovely sunny day, but we expect that we can again offer Sunday and Copenhagen visitors to easily get around the city on the white electric bikes,” said the firm.

Bycyklen’s operations in Stavenger and Utrecht were not affected by the hack.

As of Wednesday the business is back in operation, with the on board tablets all reset and ready to roll.