EU says ransomware to blame for attack which caused chaos at airports

EU confirms cyberattack linked to ransomware hit airports in Europe
Flights were cancelled and delayed in the disruption
More tech disruption has also hit Dallas Fort Worth Airport

Hundreds of flights across Europe were cancelled and delayed after a ‘cyber-related disruption’ meant electronic customer check-in and baggage drop was taken offline.

The EU’s cybersecurity agency ENISA has confirmed the disruption was linked to a ransomware incident, but did not reveal which particular strain was to blame.

“The type of ransomware has been identified. Law enforcement is involved to investigate,” a statement declared.

Extended disruptions

The attack targeted Collins Aerospace, particularly a product called ARINC cMUSe, a “next-generation common-use passenger processing system solution that allows multiple airlines to share check-in desks and boarding gate positions at an airport rather than having their own dedicated infrastructure.”

The disruptions affected flights from Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin, as well as knock-on effects to both Dublin and Cork Airports.

Across the Atlantic, a severed pair of fiber optic cables caused disruptions at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. These cables impacted both primary and secondary paths of data which support computer systems, radars, and radio frequencies;

“Yesterday’s disruption was caused by multiple failures of the TDM data telecommunications service provided by Frontier – a local telecommunications company. This then led to an outage impacting the FAA’s Dallas TRACON facility,“ the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed.

“Oversight by L3Harris, an FAA contractor, failed to ensure that redundancies in the system functioned properly. This is a clear example of the FAA’s outdated infrastructure and underscores the urgent need to modernize our air traffic control systems.”

Although this has now been resolved, the FAA says this incident highlights the ‘critical importance of clearing thousands of state and local permitting obstacles’ so that the industry can move forward from ‘aging, analog systems to more resilient, digital technology’ which is critical to the reliability and resiliency of the national airspace system.