Aeroflot Suffers Major Cyberattack, Flights Canceled Amid Pro-Ukrainian Hacker Claims
Russia's Aeroflot canceled over 40 flights following a major cyberattack. Pro-Ukrainian group Silent Crow claimed responsibility, boasting system destruction, prompting Russian criminal investigations.
Overview
- Russia's national airline, Aeroflot, was forced to cancel over 40 flights due to a significant cyberattack that severely disrupted its operational systems, impacting services and passengers.
- A pro-Ukrainian hacking collective, identified as Silent Crow, publicly claimed responsibility for orchestrating the extensive cyberattack against Aeroflot's critical infrastructure.
- The hackers boasted of destroying 7,000 servers and seizing control of senior managers' computers and critical Aeroflot systems, causing widespread operational damage.
- The cyberattack led to significant system destruction and rendered Aeroflot unable to manage flight operations, directly causing widespread service disruptions and impacting passengers.
- In response to the incident, both the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and the Kremlin launched criminal investigations into the suspected pro-Ukrainian hacker attack on Aeroflot.
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Analysis
Center-leaning sources cover the Aeroflot incident neutrally, focusing on reporting the event, attributing claims, and confirming details. They present both the hackers' assertions of responsibility and Russian officials' confirmations of a cyberattack, avoiding loaded language or editorializing on the actors involved.
"The pro-Ukrainian hacker groups claimed responsibility for a cyberattack that severely disrupted Aeroflot's operations, asserting that they aimed to inflict significant financial damage on Russia's largest airline."
ARS Technica"The outage also disrupted flights operated by Aeroflot’s subsidiaries, Rossiya and Pobeda."
Associated Press"Flights across Russia have been grounded after a cyberattack hit the country’s largest airline, Aeroflot, on Monday."
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FAQ
Silent Crow is a pro-Ukrainian hacking collective formed on Christmas Day 2024, known for targeting Russian organizations. They have claimed responsibility for multiple cyberattacks including breaches on Russia’s real estate registry Rosreestr, telecom firm Rostelecom, and others. They announced the Aeroflot attack as a strategic strike alongside Belarus-based Cyber Partisans BY.
The attack resulted in the destruction of approximately 7,000 servers, theft of over 20 terabytes of sensitive data, and complete compromise and destruction of Aeroflot's internal IT infrastructure, including critical systems such as booking, email, reservation platforms, and monitoring tools.
The cyberattack caused Aeroflot to cancel more than 40 to over 100 flights, leading to severe disruption of flight operations and passengers being stranded, as the airline became unable to manage its flight schedules and systems.
In response to the cyberattack, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and the Kremlin launched criminal investigations into the incident, treating it as a suspected pro-Ukrainian hacker attack targeting the national airline.
The cyberattack was the result of a clandestine, year-long operation that began in mid-2024, involving targeted phishing campaigns and exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities before culminating in the destruction of critical systems.
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