Russia’s Aeroflot cancels flights after pro-Ukraine hackers claim cyber-attack
The Russian airline Aeroflot was forced to cancel dozens of flights on Monday after a shadowy pro-Ukraine hacking group claimed responsibility for what it said was a crippling cyber-attack.
The national carrier did not provide further details about the cause of the problem or how long it 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 Kremlin said the situation was worrying, and prosecutors confirmed the airline’s problems were the result of a hack and opened a criminal investigation.
A statement purporting to be from a hacking group called Silent Crow said it had carried out the operation with a Belarusian group called Cyber Partisans, and linked it to the war in Ukraine.
Silent Crow has previously claimed responsibility for attacks this year on a Russian real estate database, a state telecoms company, a large insurer, the Moscow government’s IT department and the Russian office of the South Korean carmaker Kia. Some of these resulted in big data leaks.
