Hackers claim breach of Russia’s Aeroflot with over 40 flights canceled

Hacker groups Silent Crow and Belarusian Cyber Partisans BY have claimed responsibility for the cyberattack, Radio Liberty reported.

According to Telegram channels, the disruption has caused major delays at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, Aeroflot’s main hub, where hundreds of stranded passengers gathered after their flights were canceled.

Aeroflot said tickets could only be exchanged or refunded through its call center. The airline has urged affected passengers to leave Sheremetyevo Airport. Among the canceled routes are flights to Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Stavropol, Mineralnye Vody, multiple flights to St. Petersburg, other Russian cities, as well as to Minsk and Yerevan. The airline has not provided further details about the nature of the IT failure.

Aeroflot stated that a team of specialists is working to “minimize risks to the company’s flight schedule and restore normal service operations as soon as possible,” according to a statement carried by Nastoyashchee Vremya TV.

The hacker groups claim they spent about a year infiltrating Aeroflot’s corporate network, gaining access to flight history data, employee monitoring systems, and internal phone recordings.

According to their statement, the attackers managed to wipe out thousands of the airline’s servers, “compromise all critical corporate systems,” and gain control over the personal computers of Aeroflot’s leadership.

“These resources are now either destroyed or inaccessible. Recovery may cost tens of millions of dollars. The damage is strategic,” Silent Crow wrote in their message.

Aeroflot has yet to comment on the hackers' claims.

Silent Crow previously claimed responsibility for hacking the Russian state real estate registry, Rosreestr.

Earlier, Reuters reported that Aeroflot warned of possible flight delays and cancellations due to an information system failure.

Despite sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, Aeroflot remains among the world’s top 20 airlines by passenger numbers, Reuters noted. According to the company, it carried 55.3 million passengers last year.

• On July 27, approximately 90 flights at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport were delayed or canceled due to a drone threat.