MOSCOW: A cyberattack on Russia’s national airline Aeroflot disrupted 42 flights on Monday, marking the first major aviation IT breach since the Ukraine conflict began.
Officials confirmed the incident, with Ukrainian hacking group “Silent Crow” and Belarusian “Cyber Partisans” claiming responsibility in a joint statement.
Russia’s state prosecutor’s office launched a criminal investigation after flight cancellations at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Aeroflot’s main hub.
“The cause was a failure in Aeroflot’s IT system due to a hacking attack,“ authorities stated.
The hackers claimed to have compromised 7,000 of the airline’s servers and threatened to release passenger data.
“We announce the successful completion of a long-term and large-scale operation that resulted in the complete compromise and destruction of the internal IT infrastructure of Aeroflot,“ the groups said.
Aeroflot assured passengers it was “working to restore normal operation as quickly as possible.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the incident alarming, stating, “We will, of course, clarify the information and wait for an appropriate explanation.”
Cyberwarfare accusations have escalated between Russia and Ukraine, with Europol recently dismantling a pro-Russian hacking group accused of targeting Ukraine and its allies. – AFP
