Cyberattack disruptions at European airports stretch into Sunday

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/LONDON (REUTERS)

A cyberattack at a provider of check-in and boarding systems continued to disrupt operations on Sunday at several major European airports, causing flight delays and cancellations.

A spokesperson at Brussels Airport said that airlines have been asked to cancel half of Sunday's scheduled departing flights, and that passengers have been advised to confirm their flight status with airlines before heading to the airport.

The attack first came to light on Saturday, affecting major airports in London, Brussels, and Berlin, including Heathrow Airport, the continent's busiest.

The disruption is the latest in a string of hacks targeting governments and companies across the world, hitting sectors from healthcare and defence to retail and autos. A recent breach at luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover brought its production to a halt.

Saturday's problems were centred on MUSE software made by Collins Aerospace, which provides systems for several airlines at airports globally, airports said.

RTX, Collins Aerospace's parent company, said it was aware of a "cyber-related disruption" to the software at selected airports, without naming them.

Heathrow Airport said it was among those affected. Brussels Airport and Berlin Airport were also affected, they said separately. Hours later, Dublin Airport said it was also facing minor impact from the issue, along with Cork Airport, Ireland's second biggest after Dublin.

“The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations,” RTX said in an emailed statement, adding that it was working to fix the issue as quickly as possible.

It did not give any information on who might be behind the attack.

A European Commission spokesperson said there were currently no indications of a "widespread or severe attack", and that the origin of the incident was still under investigation.

These kinds of sweeping outages are typically the result either of ransomware attacks, where online extortionists paralyse corporate networks in the hope of payment, or deliberate digital sabotage.