UTICA, N.Y. — A recent hack of a portion of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad’s website that surveys customers about their train-riding experience, appears to have been done by a former employee.
The railroad believes that “a disgruntled former employee who had access to the site by virtue of passwords” changed wording on a survey question to give it a negative meaning, says Bill Branson, board president of the Adirondack Railway Preservation Society, which operates the railroad. The passwords have been changed, Branson adds.
The railroad routinely sends a survey to people who ride its popular Polar Express train. A question that usually reads “How much do you love the Polar Express?” was changed to read “How much do you hate the Polar Express?” according to a news account that aired Nov. 30 on Utica’s WKTV.
The railroad says no personal information of customers was exposed in the hack. The survey language was promptly corrected.
“Nothing was hacked in a personal way. The survey is completely separate,” says ASR Executive Director Jack Roberson, in footage aired by WKTV.
The railroad is in an ongoing dispute with some residents in upstate New York who want to have a 34-mile portion of the ASR’s state-owned tracks removed to make way for a rail trail. A meeting of the Adirondack Park Agency, which is proposing an amendment to governing language that would help facilitate removal of the tracks, is set for Dec. 13 to 14.
A few years ago I traveled east to experience some of the tourist trains that I’d only heard and read about. On the trip, one of those I wanted to ride was the Adirondack Scenic. The trip I booked was a run from Utica to Thendara, the latter being described as in a “wilderness.” Since we wanted to hike, that sounded great. We had a four hour layover there.
The trip was anything but great. The train that day hosted a group of guys who proceeded to get roaring drunk before noon, and stay that way all day. The equipment was dreary and the windows on our car were cloudy. Thendara provided nothing I’d call wilderness, being from the far west. We found one trail hike that provided a round trip walk of about an hour in duration. Old Forge, the nearby civilization, was mostly shuttered between summer and winter seasons. That meant a long wait for lunch.
While I understood that the rail trail conversion controversy involves the far end of the line, around Lake Saranac, my experience with the operation makes me wonder about the use of that part of the line. I have a hard time developing any great sympathy.
The trip in question was salvaged by a visit to Cass. It was great, almost made me forget some less-than-wonderful memories of Utica and Thendara.
I’m not a fan of biased surveys. The language in the question should be neutral, and allow the answers to be negative, neutral, or positive.
And this is why us IT nerds require that you change your passwords periodically.