The websites for some of the nation’s largest airports were targeted Monday in cyberattacks by hackers from within the Russian Federation, according to a senior official.
More than a dozen airports were impacted during Monday’s attack, John Hultquist of cybersecurity firm Madriant confirmed to ABC News. Some of the first attacks took place around 3 a.m., with the New York Port Authority reporting website disruptions for La Guardia to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to ABC News. Atlanta Airport confirmed just before noon their website was once again up and running after “an incident early this morning that made it inaccessible to the public.”
Other airports reporting a disruption to service include California’s LAX, Des Moine International Airport, and Chicago O’Hare International Airport, according to ABC News. (RELATED: Russian Hackers May Have Blown Up A Massive Natural Gas Facility In Texas: REPORT)
🚨ATL’s website (https://t.co/mbOm4q5YcL) is up and running after an incident early this morning that made it inaccessible to the public. An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway. At no time were operations at the airport impacted.
— Atlanta Airport (@ATLairport) October 10, 2022
The pro-Russian hacker group “Killnet” is believed to be responsible for the attacks, Hultquist said. Killnet has played an active role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, targeting allies of Ukraine and recently taking credit for attacks on U.S. government websites, according to ABC News. The group posted a hitlist of airport websites alongside a still shot from the “Hunger Games” movie franchise, captioned “Let the Hunger Games Begin in USA 2022,” Newsweek reported.
The “denial of service” attacks impacted public-facing features on airports’ websites, including the ability of travelers to see airport wait times congestion, a senior official told the outlet. No internal airport systems or operations were compromised in the attacks, LAX told ABC News.