EU says ransomware to blame for attack which caused chaos at airports

Date:
Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:05:55 +0000

Description:
Delays at Heathrow and other major European airports identified as being down to ransomware.

FULL STORY

Hundreds of flights across Europe were cancelled and delayed after a cyber-related disruption meant electronic customer check-in and baggage drop was taken offline.

The EUs cybersecurity agency ENISA has confirmed the disruption was linked to
a ransomware incident, but did not reveal which particular strain was to
blame.

"The type of ransomware has been identified. Law enforcement is involved to investigate," a statement declared.

Extended disruptions

The attack targeted Collins Aerospace, particularly a product called ARINC cMUSe, a next-generation common-use passenger processing system solution that allows multiple airlines to share check-in desks and boarding gate positions
at an airport rather than having their own dedicated infrastructure.

The disruptions affected flights from Heathrow, Brussels, and Berlin, as well as knock-on effects to both Dublin and Cork Airports.

Across the Atlantic, a severed pair of fiber optic cables caused disruptions
at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. These cables impacted both
primary and secondary paths of data which support computer systems, radars,
and radio frequencies.

Yesterdays disruption was caused by multiple failures of the TDM data telecommunications service provided by Frontier - a local telecommunications company. This then led to an outage impacting the FAAs Dallas TRACON
facility, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed .

Oversight by L3Harris, an FAA contractor, failed to ensure that redundancies
in the system functioned properly. This is a clear example of the FAAs
outdated infrastructure and underscores the urgent need to modernize our air traffic control systems.

Although this has now been resolved, the FAA says this incident highlights
the critical importance of clearing thousands of state and local permitting obstacles so that the industry can move forward from aging, analog systems to more resilient, digital technology which is critical to the reliability and resiliency of the national airspace system.

Via The Register

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/eu-says-ransomware-to-blame-for-attack- which-caused-chaos-at-airports

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