Polish flights grounded after cyber attack

Thousands of travellers endured a premature landing in Warsaw after Polish Airlines was subjected to an attack on its computer networks.

The airline told its Facebook followers that it  experienced an IT attack affecting ground operations.

This came after a post just an hour earlier stating that flights were cancelled due to a failure of IT systems. The attack occurred around 3pm GMT.

The cyber assault made it impossible to draw up flight plans, which meant that flights scheduled to leave from Warsaw couldn’t take off.

There were a total of 10 cancelled domestic and international flights. Others were delayed.

Polish Airlines commented:

“We’d like to underline, that it has no influence on plane systems. Aircraft that are already airborne will continue their flights. Planes with flight plans already filed will return to Warsaw normally.”

In December of last year, five international aviation organisations agreed on a method of coordinating activities when it comes to dealing with threats concerning cyber security. They identified threats such as potential loss of life, general disruption and data theft.

Gotham Digital Science director and London OWASP chapter leader, Justin Clarke, explained:

“This is a great example of where key infrastructure systems could be attacked and have a far wider effect.”

Cyber security threats have caused disruption for a number of SMEs and industries as a whole, in recent years. The threats should certainly make business owners sit up and take notice, and see the importance of cyber security jobs. Cyber professionals are clearly needed now more than ever before.