Ransomware strikes Ukrainian airport and plane maker
An alarmingly modern and voracious virus wreaks havoc across the world, creeping its way into key business sectors, aviation not being an exception. Multiple companies in the US and Europe fell prey to the hacker, although Ukraine and Russia have suffered the biggest blow. Kiev’s Boryspil International Airport, Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov and Russian oil giant Rosneft among other enterprises and institutions, were plunged into turmoil by ransomware nicknamed Petya.A.
“In connection with a non-regular situation, flight delays are possible. We very much ask you to be understanding, to remain calm. You can find up-to-date information about the departure time on the scoreboard in terminal D in the departure zone and on the website of Borispol airport kbpkiev.ua,” announced Pavel Rabkin, the head of the Boryspil International Airport, serving 65% of the country’s air traffic.
The airport’s operations have returned to normal by June 28.
The scope of the damages suffered by Antonov, Ukraine’s main aerospace conglomerate, is yet unknown.
“Our telemetry data indicates around 2,000 attacked users so far. Organizations in Russia and the Ukraine are the most affected, and we have also registered hits in Poland, Italy, the UK, Germany, France, the US and several other countries,” reports Kaspersky Lab, a Russian multinational cyber security and anti-virus provider.
It is not yet known how ransomware infects computers, but it works similarly as WannaCry, which terribly disturbed over 150 countries in May 2017. At first, the virus encrypts the data on the computer and blocks access to it only to show a single window explaining that the data is encrypted and ransom in form of $300 in bitcoins has to be paid to recover the entry and information on the computer. However, numerous reports say that the attackers seldom (if ever) unblock the infected devices.
Source – AeroTime
