Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, also known as “Rosaviatsiya”, suffered a cyber attack earlier this week which supposedly caused the “collapse of its entire network.”
An attack on 65TB of crucial information
The equivalent of the USA’s Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Air Transport Agency became the victim of an attack that reportedly downed its website and deleted 65 terabytes of information such as documents, emails, and – most crucially – files containing aircraft registration data.
The situation became worse for Rosaviatsiya, as they had no accessible backups of this key information, forcing them to rely on paper book-keeping.
Alexander Neradko, the head of the agency, spoke about the matter in a statement:
“Due to the temporary lack of access to the Internet and a malfunction in the electronic document management system of the Federal Air Transport Agency, the Federal Air Transport Agency is switching to a paper version.”
As of now, it is unclear who was responsible for the attack. It has been speculated online, and by some online publications, that the vigilante association of hackers known as “Anonymous” were responsible. This claim is difficult to verify, however, and the group has not claimed responsibility themselves. Yet elsewhere, Rosaviatsiya has blamed its IT provider for the alleged breach in security.
Russia’s state intelligence service, the FSB, has reportedly taken on the matter in an attempt to resolve it.
Yet another blow for Russia’s aviation industry
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s aviation industry has undergone a trial of fire.
Sanctions meant that Russia lost its supply of crucial aircraft and avionic parts from Boeing and Airbus, and China refused to replenish the country. Bermuda suspended Certificates of Airworthiness for all Russian aircraft, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency revoked certifications on Russian aircraft and banned Russian aircraft from entering the EU, and from 28 March Russia restricted various aircraft leased from Western companies to stop them from being repossessed by Western companies.
The list goes on, and it is apparent to most that Russia’s presence in the aviation sector is suffering considerably as a consequence of an invasion ignited by the Russian President himself.
What do you think about this attack on Russia’s aviation industry?
