A Russian flight booking system, Leonardo, fell victim to a “massive” cyberattack, causing disruptions and delays at airports. The attack was identified as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assault and was attributed to “foreign hackers” by Rostec, one of the system’s developers.
Furthermore, this hour-long incident affected multiple Leonardo customers, including major Russian airlines like Rossiya Airlines, Pobeda, and Aeroflot, resulting in delays of up to an hour at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, the busiest in the country. Leonardo, a crucial system used by over 50 Russian carriers and serving approximately 45 million passengers annually, was targeted in this cyberattack.
Additionally, the Ukrainian hacktivist group IT Army claimed responsibility for the attack and taunted their Russian counterparts on their Telegram channel. Rostec revealed that Leonardo has been subject to frequent “large-scale and unprecedented” attacks, with around five attempts recorded in September alone. This series of attacks suggests an ongoing cyberwar aimed at undermining Russia’s IT infrastructure and critical industries.
Notably, earlier in the month, a suspected pro-Russia hacking group initiated a cyberattack that led to widespread service disruptions at Canadian airports. Concurrently, Canada’s largest airline reported a data breach affecting its employees, indicating the persistence of cyber threats from Russian threat actors against Canadian businesses since the government expressed support for Ukraine.
