{"id":157462,"date":"2025-09-20T17:35:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T17:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/157462\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T17:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T17:35:10","slug":"cyberattack-causes-disruption-at-major-european-airports-including-heathrow-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/157462\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyberattack causes disruption at major European airports, including Heathrow – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cyberattack<\/a> targeting check-in and boarding systems disrupted air traffic and caused delays at several of Europe\u2019s major airports on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While the impact on travellers appeared to be limited, experts said the intrusion exposed vulnerabilities in security systems.<\/p>\n

The disruptions to electronic systems initially reported at Brussels, Berlin\u2019s Brandenburg<\/a> and London\u2019s Heathrow<\/a> airports meant that only manual check-in and boarding was possible. Many other European airports said their operations were unaffected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a cyberattack on Friday night 19 September against the service provider for the check-in and boarding systems affecting several European airports including Brussels Airport,\u201d said Brussels Airport in a statement, initially reporting a \u201clarge impact\u201d on flight schedules.<\/p>\n

Airports said the issue centered around a provider of check-in and boarding systems \u2014 not airlines or the airports themselves.<\/p>\n

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Collins Aerospace, whose systems help passengers check themselves in, print boarding passes and bag tags and dispatch their luggage from a kiosk, cited a \u201ccyber-related disruption\u201d to its MUSE (Multi-User System Environment) software at \u201cselect airports.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A very clever cyberattack\u2019<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear who might be behind the cyberattack, but experts said it could turn out to be hackers, criminal organizations, or state actors.<\/p>\n

Travel analyst Paul Charles said he was \u201csurprised and shocked\u201d by the attack that has affected one of the world\u2019s top aviation and defense companies.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cit\u2019s deeply worrying that a company of that stature who normally have such resilient systems in place have been affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is a very clever cyberattack indeed because it\u2019s affected a number of airlines and airports at the same time \u2014 not just one airport or one airline, but they\u2019ve got into the core system that enables airlines to effectively check in many of their passengers at different desks at different airports around Europe,\u201d he told Sky News.<\/p>\n

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As the day wore on, the fallout appeared to be contained.<\/p>\n

Brussels Airport spokesperson Ihsane Chioua Lekhli told broadcaster VTM that by mid-morning, nine flights had been cancelled, four were redirected to another airport and 15 faced delays of an hour or more. She said it wasn\u2019t immediately clear how long the disruptions might last.<\/p>\n

Axel Schmidt, head of communications at the Brandenburg airport, said that by late morning, \u201cwe don\u2019t have any flights cancelled due to this specific reason, but that could change.\u201d The Berlin airport said operators had cut off connections to affected systems.<\/p>\n

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Heathrow, Europe\u2019s busiest airport, said the disruption has been \u201cminimal\u201d with no flight cancellations directly linked to the problems afflicting Collins. A spokesperson would not provide details as to how many flights have been delayed as a result of the cyberattack.<\/p>\n

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The airports advised travellers to check their flight status and apologized for any inconvenience.<\/p>\n

Frustration at the counters<\/p>\n

Some passengers voiced annoyance at the lack of staff. With many, if not most, checking in individually, airlines have reduced the number of people operating at the traditional check-in counters.<\/p>\n

Maria Casey, who was on her way to a two-week backpacking holiday in Thailand with Etihad Airways, said she had to spend three hours at baggage check-in at Heathrow\u2019s Terminal 4.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey had to write our baggage tabs by hand,\u201d she said. \u201cOnly two desks were staffed, which is why we were cheesed off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins, an aviation and defense technology company that is a subsidiary of RTX Corp., formerly Raytheon Technologies, said it was \u201cactively working to resolve the issue and restore full functionality to our customers as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Airline industry is vulnerable through the use of third-party platforms<\/p>\n

Still, experts said the attack pointed to vulnerabilities \u2014 ones that hackers are increasingly trying to exploit.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Wilson, head of enterprise at cybersecurity firm Check Point, said the aviation industry has become an \u201cincreasingly attractive target\u201d for cybercriminals because of its heavy reliance on shared digital systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese attacks often strike through the supply chain, exploiting third-party platforms that are used by multiple airlines and airports at once,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen one vendor is compromised, the ripple effect can be immediate and far-reaching, causing widespread disruption across borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts said it was too early to tell who might be behind the attack, and were trying to read some clues.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt looks almost more like vandalism than extortion, based on the information we have,\u201d said James Davenport, a professor of information technology at the University of Bath in England. \u201cI think significant new details would have to emerge to change this view.\u201d<\/p>\n

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