Russian Airline Aeroflot Suffers Massive Disruption After Pro-Ukrainian Cyberattack

A major cyberattack struck Russian state-owned airline Aeroflot on Monday, disrupting its computer systems and causing the cancellation of more than 100 flights with additional widespread delays. The Ukrainian hacker group Silent Crow, in collaboration with the Belarusian activist collective Cyber-Partisans, claimed responsibility for the attack, which impacted Aeroflot’s core IT infrastructure as well as its subsidiaries Rossiya and Pobeda. The hackers claimed to have infiltrated Aeroflot’s network for a year, exfiltrated vast amounts of customer and internal data, including audio and surveillance materials, then destroyed or rendered inaccessible much of Aeroflot’s IT resources. Social media from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport showed chaotic scenes with hundreds of stranded passengers. The disruption extended to some international flights, notably affecting travel to Belarus, Armenia, and Uzbekistan. Aeroflot and Russian authorities confirmed a criminal investigation had been launched. Silent Crow threatened to release stolen data in the coming days. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the event “quite alarming” and highlighted the ongoing hacker threat to public service companies. While the hackers’ claims of data destruction and long-term access could not be independently verified, experts and officials agree the repercussions for Aeroflot and Russian travelers are severe, with strategic and financial damage potentially in the tens of millions of dollars.