‘Complete compromise': Ukraine, Belarus hackers claim responsibility for cyberattack on Aeroflot
Travel disruptions have become common in Russia since the Ukraine conflict began, often due to Ukrainian drones cutting through airspace, but this is the first time a cyberattack has caused such a blockage.
Russia's state prosecutor's office said it had opened a criminal investigation after flights were disrupted at Moscow's main Sheremetyevo airport, Aeroflot's home base, calling it a 'a hacking attack'.
Aeroflot referred only to a 'breakdown in the IT system,' saying at least 64 flights were grounded on Monday and cancelling 14 more for Tuesday.
'We've already arrived at the airport and found out that the flight has been cancelled,' Mikhail, a passenger waiting at Sheremetyevo, told AFP.
'This is not the first flight cancelled in July for us,' he said. 'It's sad, it's impossible to plan business trips.'
The Ukrainian hacking group Silent Crow and the Belarusian group Cyber Partisans claimed responsibility for the attack.
'We announce the successful completion of a long-term and large-scale operation that resulted in the complete compromise and destruction of the internal IT infrastructure of Aeroflot,' they said in a joint statement.
The attack was made possible by lax security, Cyber Partisans said in a separate statement, claiming that Aeroflot's CEO Sergei Alexandrovsky had not changed his password since 2022.
They said the company was also using outdated software such as the 'Windows XP and Windows 2003' operating systems.
The hackers hinted they would publish the personal data of all Russians who had flown with Aeroflot.
Russia's cybersecurity watchdog Roskomnadzor did not confirm the data leak, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Aeroflot said that it was 'working to restore normal operation as quickly as possible,' adding that most of its flights were operating according to schedule.
The Kremlin said it was alarmed by the incident.
'We will, of course, clarify the information and wait for an appropriate explanation,' spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Ukraine and its allies have long accused Russia of state-backed cyberwarfare, disrupting government and private IT systems around the world and damaging critical infrastructure.
The European anti-crime body Europol said this month that it had dismantled a pro-Russian hacking group accused of launching thousands of online attacks against Ukraine and its allies. — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
14 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Trump opens Scottish golf course and vows ‘peaceful world'
BALMEDIE (United Kingdom), July 29 — Donald Trump officially opened his new golf course in Scotland today, ending a five-day trip in which the US president signed a major trade deal with the EU and gave Russia less than two weeks to end the Ukraine war. To the sound of bagpipes, secret agents and golfers criss-crossed the sprawling complex on the Aberdeenshire coast, waiting for the president to tee off. 'We started with a beautiful piece of land, but we made it much more beautiful, and the area has... really, really welcomed us,' Trump said before cutting the ribbon. 'We'll play it very quickly, and then I go back to (Washington) DC and we put out fires all over the world,' he added. 'We have a world that's got some conflict, but we've ironed out a lot of it. We're gonna have a great and peaceful world.' Trump's campaign song, the Village People's 'YMCA', blared out after the ribbon cutting, as fireworks exploded in the background. The president then teed off with son Eric, who led the project. 'This will be a tremendously successful place and a place where people can come and enjoy life,' the US leader said, highlighting how his trip has again blurred the lines between his presidency and his business interests. 'We wanted this to be the greatest 36 holes anywhere on Earth. And there's no question that that's been achieved,' said Eric Trump. 'This was his Mona Lisa,' he said of his father's connection with the course. 'Sculpting the dunes, sculpting the land, that was always his painting,' he added. Trade deal The new course features the world's largest natural bunker, dunes and greens overlooking the sea, with a 'focus on environmental sensitivity', said a press release. Visible out to sea were the offshore wind turbines that Trump unsuccessfully tried to block. The president again spoke out against wind power as he hosted European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday. It was one of the many issues Trump addressed during free-wheeling press conferences at his other golf complex in Turnberry, western Scotland over the past days. With Von der Leyen, he announced a trade agreement in which the EU resigned itself to 15 percent tariffs on goods entering the United States, a deal heavily criticised across the continent. At a press conference Monday with Starmer, Trump promised more aid for Gaza, gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a '10 or 12 day' ultimatum to cease hostilities in Ukraine. 'I really felt it was going to end. But every time I think it's going to end he kills people,' Trump said of the Russian leader. 'I'm not so interested in talking (to him) anymore,' he added. Trump also criticised London mayor Sadiq Khan at the press conference and waded back into UK politics on Tuesday when he took to his Truth Social platform to urge the government to cut taxes and incentivise oil drilling in the North Sea, denouncing wind turbines as 'ugly monsters'. 'Incentivize the drillers, FAST. A VAST FORTUNE TO BE MADE for the UK, and far lower energy costs for the people,' he wrote. Trump played golf at Turnberry on Saturday and Sunday on a visit that mixed leisure with diplomacy. He is to fly back to Washington today. — AFP
The Star
16 hours ago
- The Star
Russia's Aeroflot cancels more flights but says schedule is now 'stabilised' after cyberattack
FILE PHOTO: An Aeroflot aircraft at Istanbul International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Yoruk Isik/ File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian airline Aeroflot cancelled dozens more flights on Tuesday but said it had now stabilised its schedule after a major cyberattack a day earlier. Two pro-Ukraine hacking groups claimed on Monday to have carried out a year-long operation to penetrate Aeroflot's network. They said they had crippled 7,000 servers, extracted data on passengers and employees and gained control over the personal computers of staff, including senior managers. The Interfax news agency said Aeroflot had cancelled 59 round-trip flights from Moscow on Monday out of a planned 260. It said that a further 22 flights out of Moscow and 31 into the capital were cancelled on Tuesday. Aeroflot's online timetable showed that all but one of the 22 cancelled flights out of Moscow on Tuesday had been due to leave before 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT), but the schedule for the rest of the day appeared largely unaffected. "As of today, 93% of flights from Moscow and back are planned to be operated according to the original schedule (216 return flights out of 233)," the company said. "Until 10:00, the company carried out selective flight cancellations, after which Aeroflot's own flight program stabilised." Apart from the many cancellations, Monday's attack caused heavy delays to air travel across the world's biggest country and drew anger from affected passengers. Responsibility was claimed by the Belarusian Cyber Partisans, a long-established group that opposes President Alexander Lukashenko, and by a more shadowy and recent hacking outfit that calls itself Silent Crow. Russian lawmakers said the cyberattack was a wake-up call and that investigators should focus not only on the perpetrators but on those who had allowed it to happen. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Anastasia Teterevleva; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Malay Mail
‘Complete compromise': Ukraine, Belarus hackers claim responsibility for cyberattack on Aeroflot
MOSCOW, July 29 — Ukrainian and Belarusian hacker groups claimed responsibility Monday for a cyberattack on Russia's national airline Aeroflot that has grounded dozens of flights. Travel disruptions have become common in Russia since the Ukraine conflict began, often due to Ukrainian drones cutting through airspace, but this is the first time a cyberattack has caused such a blockage. Russia's state prosecutor's office said it had opened a criminal investigation after flights were disrupted at Moscow's main Sheremetyevo airport, Aeroflot's home base, calling it a 'a hacking attack'. Aeroflot referred only to a 'breakdown in the IT system,' saying at least 64 flights were grounded on Monday and cancelling 14 more for Tuesday. 'We've already arrived at the airport and found out that the flight has been cancelled,' Mikhail, a passenger waiting at Sheremetyevo, told AFP. 'This is not the first flight cancelled in July for us,' he said. 'It's sad, it's impossible to plan business trips.' The Ukrainian hacking group Silent Crow and the Belarusian group Cyber Partisans claimed responsibility for the attack. 'We announce the successful completion of a long-term and large-scale operation that resulted in the complete compromise and destruction of the internal IT infrastructure of Aeroflot,' they said in a joint statement. The attack was made possible by lax security, Cyber Partisans said in a separate statement, claiming that Aeroflot's CEO Sergei Alexandrovsky had not changed his password since 2022. They said the company was also using outdated software such as the 'Windows XP and Windows 2003' operating systems. The hackers hinted they would publish the personal data of all Russians who had flown with Aeroflot. Russia's cybersecurity watchdog Roskomnadzor did not confirm the data leak, state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Aeroflot said that it was 'working to restore normal operation as quickly as possible,' adding that most of its flights were operating according to schedule. The Kremlin said it was alarmed by the incident. 'We will, of course, clarify the information and wait for an appropriate explanation,' spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Ukraine and its allies have long accused Russia of state-backed cyberwarfare, disrupting government and private IT systems around the world and damaging critical infrastructure. The European anti-crime body Europol said this month that it had dismantled a pro-Russian hacking group accused of launching thousands of online attacks against Ukraine and its allies. — AFP
