Cyber attacks were reported on Monday at some of the largest airports in the United States, officials allege. The attacks jammed the websites of airports including Los Angeles International Airport and O’Hare International Airport, causing inconvenience for travelers seeking information. According to an LAX spokesperson, “No internal airport systems were compromised and there were no operational disruptions.”
“It’s an inconvenience,” an unnamed official told ABC News, adding that the attacks caused a “denial of public access” to airport websites that report airport wait times and congestion.
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Fortunately, the cyber attacks did not involve air traffic control, internal airline communications, or transportation security.
Essentially, the attacks overloaded sites by jamming them with artificial users, and impacted more than a dozen websites, including the sites for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, and Des Moines International Airport.
John Hultquist, the head of intelligence analysis at cybersecurity firm Mandiant, said that he believes the hacker group “Killnet” is behind the attack, although no one knows for sure.
The Port Authority notified LaGuardia Airport’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the attacks at around 3:00 a.m. EST on Monday. LaGuardia has since been restored. Meanwhile, LAX said its website was back up and running shortly before 1:00 p.m. EST.
“Early this morning, the FlyLAX.com website was partially disrupted,” a LAX spokesperson told ABC News. “The service interruption was limited to portions of the public facing FlyLAX.com website only. No internal airport systems were compromised and there were no operational disruptions.”
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said it was attacked but was up and running again at around 10:30 a.m. EST, adding that “at no time were operations at the airport impacted.”
Hultquist noted that this type of website jamming attack is highly visible, but mainly superficial and usually temporary.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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