reuters.com - Russian airline Aeroflot was forced to cancel more than 50 round-trip flights on Monday, disrupting travel across the world's biggest country, as two pro-Ukraine hacking groups claimed to have inflicted a crippling cyberattack.
MOSCOW, July 28 (Reuters) - Russian airline Aeroflot (AFLT.MM), opens new tab was forced to cancel more than 50 round-trip flights on Monday, disrupting travel across the world's biggest country, as two pro-Ukraine hacking groups claimed to have inflicted a crippling cyberattack.
The Kremlin said the situation was worrying, and lawmakers described it as a wake-up call for Russia. Prosecutors confirmed the disruption at the national flag carrier was caused by a hack and opened a criminal investigation.
Senior lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said Russia was under digital attack.
"We must not forget that the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one. And I do not rule out that the ‘hacktivists’ who claimed responsibility for the incident are in the service of unfriendly states," Gorelkin said in a statement.
Another member of parliament, Anton Nemkin, said investigators must identify not only the attackers but "those who allowed systemic failures in protection".
Aeroflot did not say how long the problems would take to resolve, but departure boards at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport turned red as flights were cancelled at a time when many Russians take their holidays.
The company's shares were down by 3.9% by 1533 GMT, underperforming the wider market, which was 1.3% lower.
A statement purporting to be from a hacking group called Silent Crow said it had carried out the operation together with Belarusian Cyberpartisans, a self-styled hacktivist group that opposes president Alexander Lukashenko and says it wants to liberate Belarus from dictatorship.
