INCIDENT: SpiceJet’s (Low Cost Airline in India) Systems and Operations impacted by Ransomware Attack

Low-cost Indian airline SpiceJet has informed its customers today of an attempted ransomware attack that has impacted some of its systems and caused cascading delays on flight departures. The airline announced on its social media channels that its IT team managed to thwart the attack. However, multiple customer reports on Twitter and Facebook still reflect ongoing problems, highlighting flight delays, saying that customer service via phone is unreachable, and the bookings system remains unavailable.

In 2021, SpiceJet went through severe financial trouble result of grounding its fleet due to COVID-19 restrictions. It is easy to assume that this dire financial situation didn't leave much margin for investing in cybersecurity and incident response, which might be what allowed the ransomware actors in this case to launch a successful attack. (reports Bleepingcomputer.com - link below)

* "planes grounded/delayed >5hrs" based on total downtime of all reports. Actual passenger reports suggest shorter individual delays

Incident Date

May 24, 2022

Location

India

Estimated Cost

Planes grounded and/or delayed for >5 hrs

Victims

Type of Malware:

No Malware identified

Threat Source:

No threat source identified

References:

  • SpiceJet airline passengers stranded after ransomware attack
  • SpiceJet postpones March quarter results after ransomware attack
  • SpiceJet: Passengers stranded as India airline hit by ransomware attack

Industries:

Aerospace
Transportation (Includes Logistics, Shipping, Maritime, Rail, Trucking)

Impacts

OT IT

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