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Russia’s national airline, Aeroflot, was forced to cancel more than 50 round-trip flights on Monday following a large-scale cyberattack claimed by two pro-Ukrainian hacking groups, disrupting travel across the country at the peak of summer holidays.
The Kremlin described the situation as “alarming”, and Russian lawmakers called it a critical wake-up call. Prosecutors confirmed the disruption resulted from a hack and have opened a criminal investigation into the incident.
Senior lawmaker Anton Gorelkin blamed the attack on hostile foreign actors, warning, “The war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one.” He added that the hackers involved could be acting on behalf of unfriendly states.
Another parliamentarian, Anton Nemkin, stressed the need not only to identify the perpetrators but also to investigate potential systemic security lapses that allowed such a breach.
Aeroflot declined to specify how long it would take to resolve the issue, but flight boards at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport turned red with cancellations. At 1533 GMT, Aeroflot’s shares had fallen 3.9%, underperforming the broader market, which was down 1.3%.
Hacktivist group Silent Crow claimed responsibility for the cyberattack in a joint statement with the Belarusian Cyberpartisans, a group that opposes Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The statement declared: “Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!”
On their website, the Belarusian Cyberpartisans said they were aiding Ukraine’s war effort by targeting Aeroflot and paralysing Russia’s largest airline.
There was no official comment from Ukrainian authorities.
Silent Crow has previously claimed cyberattacks against several Russian targets this year, including a real estate database, a state telecom provider, an insurance firm, the IT department of Moscow’s city government, and the Russian branch of South Korean automaker KIA. Some of these attacks reportedly led to significant data breaches.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the incident underscores the ongoing threat posed by hackers to major service providers. “The information we are reading in the public domain is quite alarming,” he noted.
Aeroflot confirmed the cancellation of 54 round-trip flights and said it aimed to operate 206 out of the 260 flights scheduled for the day. Meanwhile, online departure boards showed numerous delays stretching several hours at Sheremetyevo Airport.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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