Japan Airlines (JAL) said on Thursday it had been hit by a cyber attack, which delayed more than 20 domestic flights. However, the airline reactivated its systems within hours, thwarting the attack. JAL clarified that there was no impact on flight safety.
The network connecting the company’s internal and external systems suddenly stopped working on Thursday morning due to the cyber attack. JAL said that there was an attempt to overload the network due to massive data transmission. This is called a ‘Distributed Denial of Service’ (DDoS) attack, in which the target system is unable to respond due to heavy traffic.
JAL has clarified that there was no virus or leakage of customer information. However, domestic flights were delayed by more than 30 minutes on 24 am due to this cyber attack.
Experts have often expressed concern about the weakness of cybersecurity in Japan. Although the country is increasing its defense capabilities and cooperating with advanced partners in cybersecurity such as the US, it is said that more efforts are needed to defend against cyber attacks.
Earlier in June, Japan’s space agency was hit by a series of cyber attacks, but sensitive information related to rockets, satellites, and defense was not affected. After this incident, the organization had asked to take preventive measures. In 2022, operations at a container terminal in the port of Nagoya city were disrupted for three days due to a cyber attack.
JAL temporarily suspended ticket sales for domestic and international flights on Thursday but resumed within hours.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference that the Ministry of Transport has directed JAL to fix its system as soon as possible and to take measures for the convenience of passengers.
Due to this cyber attack, many passengers crowded at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Due to the holiday season in the last week of the year, travelers travel in large numbers. Millions of people travel from cities to their villages at this time for the New Year festival.
Also, other airlines in Japan such as ANA Holdings, Skymark, and Starflyer were not affected by the attack.
This cyber attack on JAL has once again drawn attention to the issue of cybersecurity and underscores the need for robust measures to prevent such incidents in the future.