The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) stated that a ransomware cyberattack caused serious disruptions at several of Europe's largest airports. The attackers damaged software for automated passenger check-in and boarding, demanding a ransom. This is reported in a BBC article, writes UNN.
Details
The type of ransomware has been identified. Law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation
The first disruptions occurred on the evening of September 19 after an attack on the American company Collins Aerospace, which is the manufacturer of the popular Muse software. This caused chaos at Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin: some airlines were forced to switch check-in and boarding to manual mode.
On Sunday, Heathrow said it was still working to resolve the issue and apologized to passengers who experienced flight delays. It noted that "the vast majority of flights continue to operate" and urged passengers to check the status of their flights before traveling to the airport
At the same time, almost half of the scheduled flights were canceled in Brussels, and Berlin reported that "some companies are still boarding passengers manually."
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According to the BBC, internal documents state that more than a thousand computers could have been damaged, and hackers remained inside the network after the systems were restarted.
Experts note that such attacks have become a systemic threat: in the last year alone, the number of cyberattacks on the aviation sector has increased by 600%, and company losses amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Recall
Some of Europe's largest airports faced difficulties in resuming normal operations on Sunday after hackers disrupted automated check-in systems.
On September 20, it was reported that a cyberattack paralyzed airports across Europe.