The Kremlin has described reports of a cyber-attack on Russia’s national carrier Aeroflot as “worrying” after the airline reported a failure in its information systems and cancelled dozens of flights.
A statement purporting to be from a pro-Ukraine hacking group called Silent Crow said it carried out the attack, together with a Belarusian group.
“We declare the successful completion of a prolonged and large-scale operation, as a result of which the internal IT infrastructure of Aeroflot was completely compromised and destroyed,” the group claimed on Telegram.
It also claimed it had destroyed databases and corporate systems, and gained control of the personal computers of employees.
Silent Crow also threatened to release “the personal data of all Russians who have ever flown Aeroflot”.
“Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!”, the post concluded.
Hacker groups routinely exaggerate their successes and whether this latest attack causes any lasting disruption remains to be seen. The BBC hasn’t been able to verify any of Silent Crow’s claims.
However, the Russian prosecutor’s office confirmed there had been “a failure in the operation of the Aeroflot information system as a result of a hacker attack” and said a criminal investigation had been opened.
A number of passengers would be transferred to flights operated by other carriers, the transport ministry said.
The cancellations mostly affected internal flights but routes to Belarus, Armenia and Tashkent were also disrupted.
Pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian hacking groups have been extremely active since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – but it is hard to know when their boasts about various cyber-attacks are backed up with facts.
These gangs are often run by volunteers who target organisations and exaggerate their attacks to make headlines and degrade enemy morale.
This attack is a rare one that is having a visible and immediate impact on a major Russian company, affecting tens of thousands of civilians as well as the firm.
Silent Crow said they worked with the long-established Belarusian hacker group Cyber Partisans, which has been carrying out attacks against targets in Russia and Belarus since 2022. Cyber Partisans describes itsself as “a highly organised hacktivist collective that is fighting for the liberation of Belarus from dictatorial rule”.
Whilst many groups claim to be “hacktivists” – activist hackers – evidence points to some of having close ties with security services of the countries they support.
Since Moscow’s troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, travellers in Russia often face disruption – usually owing to attacks by Ukrainian drones.
Earlier in July hundreds of flights were cancelled at Moscow’s four main airports following a sustained Ukrainian drone attack, affecting tens of thousands of people.
