Pro-Ukrainian Hackers Take Credit for Attack That Snarls Russian Flight Travel
Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot, was forced to cancel dozens of flights on Monday due to a failure in the IT systems of a state-owned company. The disruption, according to reports and claims from pro-Ukrainian hackers, was a result of a cyberattack.
Aeroflot announced the cancellation of approximately 40 flights, attributing it to a "technical failure." The online departure board at Sheremetyevo airport indicated numerous delays, affecting both domestic routes and international destinations such as Minsk in Belarus and Yerevan in Armenia. These disruptions left many travelers stranded at various airports across Russia.
"The damage is strategic," the hacker group claimed.
Russian prosecutors confirmed to Reuters that the cause of the outage was indeed a hack and have since initiated a criminal investigation. Russian lawmakers also hinted at a cyberattack, with Anton Gorelkin naming it a digital assault potentially by hacktivists aligned with hostile nations.
Two pro-Ukrainian hacker groups, Silent Crow and Belarusian Cyberpartisans, have asserted responsibility for the attack. Silent Crow claimed via Telegram to have infiltrated Aeroflot's entire database, capturing flight history, audio recordings, and internal communications.
The cyberattack, reportedly a result of a yearlong operation, purportedly destroyed 7,000 servers and granted the hackers access to employees' personal computers, including those of senior managers. Belarusian Cyberpartisans also declared their involvement, stating their goal was to aid Ukraine by damaging Russia's largest airline financially.
The groups have threatened to release sensitive personal data of all Russians who have traveled with Aeroflot, along with intercepted staff conversations and emails.
This incident followed a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin canceled celebratory naval events in St. Petersburg due to corresponding Ukrainian drone attacks targeting the city. Silent Crow has a history of cyberattacks in Russia, including targeting Rosreestr and a contractor for Rostelecom. The Belarusian Cyber-Partisans have previously targeted infrastructure in both Russia and Belarus.
Ukraine's military intelligence had taken responsibility for earlier acts of cyber sabotage on Russian aviation, notably an attack on Rosaviatsiya that disrupted operations.
