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- Japan Airlines experienced a major network disruption
- An investigation uncovered a cyber attack by an unknown threat actor
- The attack lasted a few hours and caused delays in some flights
Japan Airlines has confirmed that it suffered a cyberattack that caused widespread system disruption and delays to more than 20 domestic flights.
The airline first noticed something was wrong when part of the network connecting the internal and external systems went wrong. A brief investigation determined that a threat actor attempted to overwhelm the network by sending huge data streams – similar to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.
These days, DDoS attacks are used as a diversion, while attackers deploy malware, or even ransomwareelsewhere in the network. Alternatively, criminals can reach out to victims, sometimes even over the phone, to demand a ransom in exchange for stopping the DDoS.
No malware detected?
However, Japan Airlines said that the attack did not result in the distribution of malwareor data theft. The only damage included the delay of 24 domestic flights for about half an hour. The company also suspended the sale of tickets for domestic and international flights for a few hours. Flight safety was not affected, it was added.
U AP also reported that the country’s transport ministry has urged Japan Airlines to address and restore the systems, accommodating the affected passengers, since other national airlines, such as All Nippon Airways, Skymark, or Starflyer, are not were not affected by the incident.
At press time, no threat actor has claimed responsibility for the attack, so we still don’t know the reasons. The holidays are the usual time of year when criminals increasingly target critical infrastructure businesses. Since companies experience an increase in traffic, while at the same time having a lot of staff on annual leave, they are a prime target for ransom requests.
In January 2024, one of the largest aircraft leasing companies in the world, AerCap, suffered a ransomware attack that resulted in the theft of sensitive corporate data, and in March, Air Europa suffered the same.
Via AP
