Cyber Attack Causes System Failure at Bristol Airport

A cyber attack caused flight display screens to fail Friday and Saturday at Bristol Airport. “An airport spokesman said the information screens were taken offline early on Friday to contain an attack similar to so-called ‘ransomware.’” Ransomware attacks restrict access to system data and attempt to extort money by asking for “ransom” in order for users to regain access.

An airport spokesman said: "We believe there was an online attempt to target part of our administrative systems and that required us to take a number of applications offline as a precautionary measure, including the one that provides our data for flight information screens. That was done to contain the problem and avoid any further impact on more critical systems.”

The airport was using whiteboards and markers to manually write in flight information in place of the display screens in addition to making announcements over their public announcement system. No flights were reported disrupted as a result of the attack.