A cyber attack causes delays and cancellations in the airports of Berlin, Brussels and Heathrow (London) | Economy

A cyber attack on Friday night to Saturday has affected the operation of several large European airports, such as Brussels, Berlin and Heathrow (London), causing dozens of delays and cancellations. It has been the Zaventem airport, in the Belgian capital, who has identified what happened as a “cyber attack” against a billing and shipping services provider. The authorship of the attack has not been identified or claimed by any organization.

Spanish airports have not been directly affected by what happened, according to Aena, which manages most of them. However, there are cancellations and flight delays that link with affected airports.

Zaventem has asked passengers with flights scheduled for this Saturday to check their status before leaving for the airport and just go if their flight is confirmed. The Brussels Airport has also announced that half of the exit flights scheduled for this Sunday will have to be canceled due to the continuous disturbances after cyber attack, “in order to avoid long queues and late cancellations,” said a spokesman for the Belgian airport, Reuters reported.

Heathrow Airport, in London, one of the busiest in Europe, is also suffering “technical problems”, according to a statement distributed in its social networks in which it does not speak of computer attack. The entity affirms that Collins Aerospace, which provides services Check-in And shipping several airlines in airports around the world, is experiencing “technical problems” that can cause delays in passenger outings.

Collins Aerospace has recognized this Saturday “technical problems” for “computer causes” in certain airports, but does not specify the cause of these difficulties.

“The impact is limited to the electronic check-in of customers and the delivery of luggage, and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations,” said RTX, the Matrix of Collins Aerospace in a statement sent by email, adding that I was working to solve the problem as soon as possible.

The American Collins Aerospace is one of the largest world suppliers of aerospace and defense products. RTX also controls Raytheon, defense contractors, and the Aerospace firm Pratt & Whitney. This week it has been announced that Collins Aerospace will supply systems of software to combat electronic war for the NATO communication and information agency.

“While the supplier works to solve the problem quickly, we recommend to passengers to consult the status of their flight with their airline before traveling,” says Heathrow in a note in which he asks those who have flights today to arrive at the airport at least three hours in advance for long distance flights and two for national flights.

In a note launched on their social networks, the Brussels airport explains that the incidence has forced to manually perform the operations of Check-in and shipping. The computer attack, says the entity, “has a great impact on the flight calendar and unfortunately will cause delays and flight cancellations.”

For its part, Berlin airport does not speak of cyber attack, such as Brussels, but has issued a note in which it mentions “technical problems in a systems provider that operates throughout Europe”. “There are greater waiting times for the Check-in”, They point out.

Eurocontrol, the European Air Security Organization, has reported that in the affected airports the cancellation of about half of the flights has been requested and talks about “similar” problems at Dublin airport. Cork airport, also in Ireland, also reported disturbances hours later. The installation of the Irish capital had also reported in the morning that its terminal 2 was evacuated as a security measure and reopened an hour later, according to the airport, which did not reveal the reason for the evacuation.

Origin research

A spokesman for the European Commission said that, for the moment, there are no indications that it is a “generalized or serious attack” and that the origin of the incident is still being investigated. The United Kingdom CyberDefense authorities and Germany are in communication with their respective airports on the incident.

This type of generalized interruptions are usually the result of attacks on ransomwarein which online extortioners paralyze corporate networks in the hope of obtaining a payment, or deliberate digital sabotages.

Rafe Pilling, director of intelligence of threats of the cybersecurity company Sofos, cited by the British agency states that the impact of the incident highlights “the fragile and interdependent nature of the digital ecosystem that supports air transport”. “The threat is significant and very real,” he adds.