US airport websites knocked offline by pro-Russia hackers

A pro-Russian group is claiming credit for a series of disruptions that temporarily knocked the websites of some US airports offline. The group, called Killnet, has engaged in a series of cyberattacks in recent months against Western targets, including incidents that temporarily rendered some state government websites offline last week, according to cybersecurity experts. The attack caused intermittent delays with accessing LaGuardia Airport’s website, for 15 minutes starting about 3 a.m., according to a Port Authority spokesperson. There was no operational impact. Los Angeles International Airport issued a statement saying its website was partially disrupted and that the interruption was limited to portions of the public-facing website. There were no disruptions to internal airport systems nor were there any operational difficulties, according to the statement. Websites for O’Hare and Midway airports in Chicago were offline Monday, according to a statement from the Chicago Department of Aviation, but no airport operations were affected. On Killnet’s Telegram channel, the group claims to have launched attacks against dozens of US airports though it wasn’t immediately clear how many of the airports were actually hit and whether the victims suffered any disruptions. The TSA, which oversees airport security, referred questions to the individual airports. The FAA said it would defer comments to TSA. The FAA’s air-traffic website showed no indications of any flight disruptions from the cyberattacks. Similarly, the tracking website FlightAware.com showed relatively few delays or flight cancellations across the country. The FAA’s air-traffic computers are designed to remain off the internet and have dedicated communication lines to ensure they are safe from hacking.<br/>