Major cyberattack on Aeroflot causes chaos at Russian airports

Russia’s national airline Aeroflot has been subjected to a massive cyberattack that led to major operational disruption, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed on Monday.

The airline reported a major failure in its information systems on Monday morning, warning passengers of delays and cancellations across its flight network.

At least 49 flights have already been cancelled, Aeroflot said, citing “a failure in the IT infrastructure”, and adding that its technical team was working to restore normal service “as soon as possible”.

Long queues formed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport — Aeroflot’s main hub — as stranded passengers waited for updates, local media outlet Msk1 reported.

Russian aviation Telegram channel Aviatorshchina, reported that Aeroflot’s operations had been “almost completely” paralysed after the hacking attack, with one source telling the channel: “All systems are down … they can’t even refuel the planes”.

A hacker collective known as Silent Crow claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday, which it said it had planned and executed jointly with Belarusian hacker group Cyber Partisans. In a statement posted online, Silent Crow said it had “completely compromised and destroyed” Aeroflot’s IT infrastructure and claimed to have spent nearly a year inside the airline’s corporate network.

“We managed to extract the full archive of flight history databases, compromise all critical corporate systems, and gain access to employees’ personal computers — including those of senior management,” the group said, adding, “Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!”