Chaos in Russian airports as hackers claim attack on major airline
Photo: Collapse at airports in Russia (Getty Images)
Today, July 28, a major disruption occurred in the operations of Russia's largest airline, Aeroflot, resulting in the cancellation of numerous flights. A group of hackers has claimed responsibility, the Russian news resource Baza reports.
Due to the disruption, at least 49 flights were canceled from Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. In particular, flights to Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Stavropol, Mineralnye Vody, several flights to Saint Petersburg, as well as to Minsk, Yerevan, and a number of other Russian cities, were canceled.
Long lines of passengers formed in the airport terminals.
According to the airline's official version, a technical failure occurred in its information systems.
However, the hacker group Silent Crow, together with the Belarusian Cyber Partisans BY, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The hackers inform they destroyed the IT infrastructure of the airline Aeroflot.
According to the hacker groups, the operation lasted almost a year, during which they managed to infiltrate the company's corporate network.
They say they gained access to databases containing flight history records, personnel monitoring systems, and internal telephone conversations.
In total, approximately 7,000 physical and virtual servers were destroyed.
There is currently no official confirmation of a cyberattack, but speculation about hacker involvement is spreading in the Russian information space.
Collapse in Russian airports
Earlier, a large-scale disruption also occurred at three of Russia's largest airports. As a result, airlines could have lost over $250 million.
Then, on July 5–6, hundreds of flights were canceled at Russian airports. Against this backdrop, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin complained that drones were flying toward the Russian capital and were being shot down by air defense systems.
