Thought Leadership
Ukrainian drone attacks repeatedly cause massive problems in Russia’s air traffic. However, the dozens of new flight cancellations in Moscow probably have a different reason.
Dozens of flights have been canceled in Moscow following a suspected attack by pro-Ukrainian hacker groups. The Russian state-owned airline Aeroflot initially said that around 60 flights had been canceled at Sheremetyevo Airport, citing a malfunction in its IT systems as the reason. Company experts were working on restoring the work of the servers in order to resume scheduled air traffic, it said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of alarming news. “The threat from hackers is a danger that exists for all large companies that serve the population,” he said, according to the Interfax agency.
Pro-Ukrainian hackers from the groups Silent Crow and Cyberpartisans BY announced that they had carried out an operation against Aeroflot that had been in preparation for a year. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office initiated criminal proceedings for illegal intrusion into the computer systems.
Hackers: IT systems destroyed and data intercepted
Ukrainian media also quoted messages from the hackers, who claimed to have struck a “strategic blow” against Russia’s largest airline. The entire IT infrastructure had been brought under their control and 7,000 servers had been destroyed.
Twelve terabytes of data had been collected. For the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB and other cyber security agencies in Moscow, this is a message that they are unable to protect the key IT infrastructure.
Interference also repeatedly caused by Ukrainian drones
Passengers who wanted to fly on vacation were stranded at Sheremetyevo Airport and were asked to follow displays on travel boards. Hundreds had to collect their luggage and leave the airport. Domestic and international flights were affected.
In recent weeks, there have been repeated restrictions on Russian air traffic, including at Moscow’s other capital airports Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky. The reason for this was the risk of Ukrainian drone attacks. The airlines complained of massive losses due to the frequent airspace closures.
In Ukraine, on the other hand, no passenger flights have been possible for more than three years due to the Russian war of aggression. Ukrainian commentators wrote that Russians are now also realizing what it is like to no longer be able to fly on vacation.
dpa
