Early Monday morning, alleged hackers from ‘within the Russian Federation’ unleashed cyberattacks on websites of major US airports, according to ABC News, citing a senior US official.
Luckily, the attacks did not disrupt systems that handle air traffic control, internal airline communications and coordination, or transportation security.
“It’s an inconvenience,” the senior official said, adding the cyberattacks resulted in “denial of public access” to certain airport websites that report flight wait times and congestion.
The attacks were first detected around 0300 ET when the Port Authority contacted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that LaGuardia Airport was hit. Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Des Moines International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport were also targeted.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport had its website restored as of 1030 ET. This is what ATL’s website looked like earlier…
None of the cyberattacks disrupted flights as engineers and programmers worked with airports to patch websites.
Bleeping Computer said, “pro-Russian hacktivist group ‘KillNet’ is claiming large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against” US airports.
*Developing…
