Latest news with #Sheremetyevo
The Independent
28-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Cyberattack on Russian airline Aeroflot causes more than 100 flights to be cancelled
Russia 's flagship state-owned carrier, Aeroflot, was hit by a significant cyberattack on Monday, leading to a mass outage of its computer systems and forcing the cancellation of over 100 flights, with many others delayed. The disruption caused widespread chaos at Moscow 's Sheremetyevo airport, Aeroflot's base, where images shared on social media depicted hundreds of delayed passengers. The outage also impacted flights operated by Aeroflot's subsidiaries, Rossiya and Pobeda. While primarily affecting domestic routes, the cyberattack also led to cancellations for some international flights to Belarus, Armenia, and Uzbekistan. Initially, Aeroflot issued a statement warning passengers of "unspecified difficulties" with its information technology system. However, Russia's Prosecutor's Office later confirmed the incident was a cyberattack and announced a criminal investigation had been launched. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described reports of the attack as "quite alarming," adding that "the hacker threat is a threat that remains for all large companies providing services to the general public." Ukrainian hacker group Silent Crow and Belarusian hacker activist group the Belarus Cyber-Partisans, which opposes the rule of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, both claimed responsibility for the assault. Silent Crow asserted via Telegram that it had maintained access to Aeroflot's corporate network for a year, during which time it copied customer and internal data, including audio recordings of phone calls, employee surveillance data, and other intercepted communications. The group claimed that these resources are now "inaccessible or destroyed and restoring them will possibly require tens of millions of dollars. The damage is strategic." The channel also shared screenshots purporting to show Aeroflot's internal IT systems, insinuating that seized data could be released soon. "The personal data of all Russians who have ever flown with Aeroflot have now also gone on a trip — albeit without luggage and to the same destination," it stated. These claims could not be independently verified. The Belarus Cyber-Partisans told The Associated Press they had hoped to "deliver a crushing blow." The group has a history of claiming responsibility for cyberattacks, including an alleged infiltration of Belarus's main KGB security agency in April 2024. Group coordinator Yuliana Shametavets described the Aeroflot incident as "a very large-scale attack and one of the most painful in terms of consequences," adding that the group had prepared for several months, exploiting various vulnerabilities to penetrate the airline's network. Belarus is a close ally of Russia, with President Lukashenko having allowed Russia to use his country's territory for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and for the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. The incident follows a summer of repeated mass delays at Russian airports, often due to Ukrainian drone attacks prompting flight groundings over safety concerns.
Yahoo
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia's Aeroflot cancels dozens of flights after cyberattack causes IT outage
Russian state-owned flagship carrier Aeroflot suffered a mass IT outage Monday following a cyberattack, Russia's prosecutor's office said, forcing the airline to cancel more than 100 flights and delay others. Footage shared on social media showed hundreds of delayed passengers crowding Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where Aeroflot is based. The outage also disrupted flights operated by Aeroflot's subsidiaries, Rossiya and Pobeda. While most of the flights affected were domestic, the disruption also led to cancellations for some international flights to Belarus, Armenia and Uzbekistan. In a statement released early Monday, Aeroflot warned passengers that the company's IT system was experiencing unspecified difficulties and that disruption could follow. Russia's Prosecutor's Office later confirmed that a cyberattack had caused the outage and that it had opened a criminal investigation. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called reports of the attack 'quite alarming,' adding that "the hacker threat is a threat that remains for all large companies providing services to the general public.' Ukrainian hacker group Silent Crow and Belarusian hacker activist group the Belarus Cyber-Partisans, which opposes the rule of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group claimed it had accessed Aeroflot's corporate network for a year, copying customer and internal data, including audio recordings of phone calls, data from the company's own surveillance on employees and other intercepted communications. 'All of these resources are now inaccessible or destroyed and restoring them will possibly require tens of millions of dollars. The damage is strategic,' the channel purporting to the Silent Crow group wrote on Telegram. There was no way to independently verify its claims. The same channel also shared screenshots that appeared to show Aeroflot's internal IT systems and insinuated that Silent Crow could begin sharing the data it had seized in the coming days. 'The personal data of all Russians who have ever flown with Aeroflot have now also gone on a trip – albeit without luggage and to the same destination,' it said. Russia's airports have repeatedly faced mass delays over the summer as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks, with flights grounded amid safety concerns. The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Associated Press
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Russia's Aeroflot cancels dozens of flights after cyberattack causes IT outage
Russian state-owned flagship carrier Aeroflot suffered a mass IT outage Monday following a cyberattack, Russia's prosecutor's office said, forcing the airline to cancel more than 100 flights and delay others. Footage shared on social media showed hundreds of delayed passengers crowding Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where Aeroflot is based. The outage also disrupted flights operated by Aeroflot's subsidiaries, Rossiya and Pobeda. While most of the flights affected were domestic, the disruption also led to cancellations for some international flights to Belarus, Armenia and Uzbekistan. In a statement released early Monday, Aeroflot warned passengers that the company's IT system was experiencing unspecified difficulties and that disruption could follow. Russia's Prosecutor's Office later confirmed that a cyberattack had caused the outage and that it had opened a criminal investigation. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called reports of the attack 'quite alarming,' adding that 'the hacker threat is a threat that remains for all large companies providing services to the general public.' Ukrainian hacker group Silent Crow and Belarusian hacker activist group the Belarus Cyber-Partisans, which opposes the rule of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group claimed it had accessed Aeroflot's corporate network for a year, copying customer and internal data, including audio recordings of phone calls, data from the company's own surveillance on employees and other intercepted communications. 'All of these resources are now inaccessible or destroyed and restoring them will possibly require tens of millions of dollars. The damage is strategic,' the channel purporting to the Silent Crow group wrote on Telegram. There was no way to independently verify its claims. The same channel also shared screenshots that appeared to show Aeroflot's internal IT systems and insinuated that Silent Crow could begin sharing the data it had seized in the coming days. 'The personal data of all Russians who have ever flown with Aeroflot have now also gone on a trip – albeit without luggage and to the same destination,' it said. Russia's airports have repeatedly faced mass delays over the summer as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks, with flights grounded amid safety concerns.
Washington Post
28-07-2025
- Washington Post
Russia's Aeroflot cancels dozens of flights after cyberattack causes IT outage
Russian state-owned flagship carrier Aeroflot suffered a mass IT outage Monday following a cyberattack, Russia's prosecutor's office said, forcing the airline to cancel more than 100 flights and delay others. Footage shared on social media showed hundreds of delayed passengers crowding Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, where Aeroflot is based. The outage also disrupted flights operated by Aeroflot's subsidiaries, Rossiya and Pobeda.
Reuters
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Pro-Ukrainian hackers claim massive cyberattack on Russia's Aeroflot
MOSCOW, July 28 (Reuters) - Russian national flag carrier Aeroflot ( opens new tab was forced to cancel dozens of flights on Monday, disrupting travel across the world's biggest country, as two pro-Ukraine hacking groups claimed to have inflicted a crippling cyberattack. The Kremlin said the situation was worrying, and lawmakers called it a wake-up call for Russia. Prosecutors confirmed the disruption was caused by a hack and opened a criminal investigation. Senior lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said Russia was under digital attack. "We must not forget that the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one. And I do not rule out that the 'hacktivists' who claimed responsibility for the incident are in the service of unfriendly states," Gorelkin said in a statement. Another member of parliament, Anton Nemkin, said investigators must identify not only the attackers but "those who allowed systemic failures in protection". Aeroflot did not say how long the problems would take to resolve, but departure boards at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport turned red as flights were cancelled at a time when many Russians take their holidays. The company's shares were down by 3.9% by 1300 GMT, underperforming the wider market, which was 1.4% lower. A statement purporting to be from a hacking group called Silent Crow said it had carried out the operation together with Belarusian Cyberpartisans, a self-styled hacktivist group that opposes president Alexander Lukashenko and says it wants to liberate Belarus from dictatorship. "Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!" said the statement in the name of Silent Crow. Belarusian Cyberpartisans said on its website: "We are helping Ukrainians in their fight with the occupier, carrying out a cyber strike on Aeroflot and paralysing the largest airline in Russia." There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Silent Crow has previously claimed responsibility for attacks this year on a Russian real estate database, a state telecoms company, a large insurance firm, the Moscow government's IT department and the Russian office of South Korean carmaker KIA. Some of those resulted in big data leaks. "The information that we are reading in the public domain is quite alarming. The hacker threat is a threat that remains for all large companies providing services to the population," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Aeroflot said it had cancelled more than 40 flights - mostly within Russia but also including routes to the Belarusian capital Minsk and the Armenian capital Yerevan - after reporting a failure in its information systems. An online departure board for Sheremetyevo airport showed dozens of others were delayed. "Specialists are currently working to minimise the impact on the flight schedule and to restore normal service operations," Aeroflot said. The statements from Silent Crow and Belarusian Cyberpartisans said the cyberattack was the result of a year-long operation which had deeply penetrated Aeroflot's network, destroyed 7,000 servers and gained control over the personal computers of employees, including senior managers. They published screenshots of file directories purportedly from inside Aeroflot's network and threatened to soon start releasing "the personal data of all Russians who have ever flown Aeroflot", as well as intercepted conversations and emails of Aeroflot staff. Since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022, travellers in Russia have become used to flight disruptions, usually caused by temporary airport closures during drone attacks. Russian companies and government websites have been subjected to sporadic hacking attacks, but Monday's was potentially the most damaging, because of the widespread disruption and the high profile of Aeroflot. Former Aeroflot pilot and aviation expert Andrei Litvinov told Reuters: "This is a serious disaster. Okay, flight delays - you can survive that. But these are losses, huge losses for a state-owned company." He added: "If all the correspondence, all the corporate data is exposed - this can have very long-term consequences ... First the drones, and now they are blowing up this situation from the inside." Passengers vented their anger on social network VK, complaining about a lack of clear information from the airline. Malena Ashi wrote: "I've been sitting at Volgograd airport since 3:30!!!!! The flight has been rescheduled for the third time!!!!!! This time it was rescheduled for approximately 14:50, and it was supposed to depart at 5:00!!!" Another woman, Yulia Pakhota, posted: "The call centre is unavailable, the website is unavailable, the app is unavailable. "How can I return a ticket or exchange it for the next flight, as Aeroflot suggests?" Aeroflot said affected passengers could get a refund or rebook as soon as its systems were back and it was trying to get some passengers seats on other airlines. Despite Western sanctions on Russia that have drastically limited travel and routes, Aeroflot remains among the top 20 airlines worldwide by passenger numbers, which last year hit 55.3 million people, according to its website.
