Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Main article: Seattle

History

2024: IT systems shut down due to cyber attack

In late August 2024, Seattle Airport was the victim of a cyber attack that continues to affect the operation of the airport itself and related organizations for the third day. Airport employees cannot yet say when they will be able to return to normal operation. Cybersecurity services have been forced to almost completely shut down the airport's IT systems.

The airport reported problems on the morning of August 24, 2024, noting "violations of the Internet and web systems." Hours later, the airport said the outage was linked to a "possible cyber attack." It is not yet clear who is behind the attack or how the attackers gained access to the technical infrastructure of the air harbor.

The Transportation Security Administration runs on its own dedicated network and has not been affected by the outage. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said its systems were not affected. For this reason, the shutdown of the main airport systems did not affect the inspection, and only seven flights were canceled on August 26. However, the airport does not have Wi-Fi and has suffered baggage claim services, and some airlines have been forced to issue luggage tags on their own. As a result of cyber attacks, information boards with data on flights and waiting times were also turned off. Airport employees cannot be reached by email and phone, the Seattle Airport website is unavailable.

Airport staff offer passengers to limit themselves to hand luggage for the time of the failure, and those who still want to hand over their luggage are advised to arrive at the airport early, especially in the case of international flights. However, some international carriers brought in their own technical equipment to help the company and passengers survive the shutdown of the airport's IT systems.^[1]

Notes