Russian hackers suspected over cyber attack on US airports

Russian hackers have reportedly been blamed for a cyber attack on multiple US airports, including New York’s LaGuardia and Chicago O’Hare, whose websites were taken offline.

LaGuardia airport was thought to be the first to report problems on Monday morning to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, when its website went offline at around 3am ET.

The attack on LaGuardia was soon followed by others on more than a dozen airports across, with CNN reporting 14 seperate incidents on Monday at US airports.

Other airports whose websites experienced trouble were Des Moines International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, reports said.

A senior official told ABC News on Monday that hackers located within Russia were thought to be responsible for the series of technical difficulties experienced by the country’s biggest airports.

Flights were not impacted by the attack and websites were eventually restored.

“It’s an inconvenience,” the senior US government source said to NBC News, who added that the incidents had led to a “denial of public access” to airport websites.

While it remains unclear which group carried out the attacks, CNN reported that the pro-Kremlin hacking group Killnet had listed multiple US airports as targets.

The group claimed responsibility for taking down US state governments websites last week and in July, was blamed for sending a US Congress website offline. As have the group been blamed for targeting organisations in Lithuania over the east European country’s sanctions and retort of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.