Japan Airlines, Japan’s flag carrier, recently fell victim to a cyber attack that led to the cancellation or delay of dozens of flights. The attack, which targeted the airline’s network infrastructure, also caused the temporary suspension of ticket sales for both domestic and international flights.
The attack began on December 26th at 7:24 a.m. local time when the company identified an issue with a router that links its infrastructure to other organizations’ networks. The router was shut down about 90 minutes later as part of the airline’s efforts to remediate the cyber attack.
It is reported that the router likely have been targeted by a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. DDoS attacks aim to disrupt systems by overwhelming them with malicious network requests, often targeting external-facing network devices such as routers. In this case, the airline confirmed that there was no customer data leakage or further damage, suggesting that the attackers did not install malware on the router.
This incident at Japan Airlines highlights the growing threat of DDoS attacks in the aviation industry. It follows a similar disruption at American Airlines, which had to delay flights due to a networking issue. As these attacks become more frequent and sophisticated, it is crucial for companies to invest in robust cybersecurity measures, including DDoS detection and mitigation solutions.
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