A ransomware cyberattack hit Europe’s airline and travel industry, including some major airports. The campaign went after Collins Aerospace’s MUSE system, a software platform used to manage check-ins, boarding and the transport of baggage for airlines. With systems frozen, airports – ranging from those in London to Brussels, Berlin and Dublin – were forced to revert to manual operations.
The disruption started late last week and then intensified. It left passengers standing in long lines, flights delayed and even abruptly canceled as digital check-in counters went dark. Workery ants haphazardly gave out boarding passes by hand and made handwritten lists of baggage. Eyewitnesses described “total confusion” with travelers left stranded for hours as they waited for updates.
It was a ransomware attack, in which criminals lock up systems and demand payment to release them, authorities said. The attack was reported by the European Union’s cybersecurity agency (ENISA) as having originated from a third-party system provider, making IT even more difficult to rein in.
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Security experts say the breach is evidence of how susceptible worldwide travel systems are to cyber threats. One provider’s being attacked had knock-on effects in multiple countries, and grounded flights besides costing millions. Analysts described it as among the biggest cyber incident involving an aviation-related company in many years.
